By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Oklahoma City Thunder zapped the Memphis Grizzlies in yet another one-sided home-court defense, 118-99, to bag Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference best-of-seven first-round playoff series on April 23, 2025.
With the lopsided victory, the Thunde grabbed their home-court advantage and will fly to Memphis with a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Fresh off a 51-point drubbing, Oklahoma picked up where they left and scored a wire-to-wire dub when they didn’t allow Memphis to take the lead since the jump ball period.
Just like Game 1, the Thunder went off to the races and immediately seized a 15-point lead, 32-17, to cap off the first 12 minutes of the ball game.
That then became the story of Game 2. With the way Oklahoma defended and countered back with fast break points, the Grizzlies once again failed to gain some momentum in the following frame and drowned entering the second half with an 18-point hole.
Everything was a replica of their first duel, as Oklahoma locked-up Memphis from the three-point line and out-rebounded them by 13 boards, 55-42.
As what they say, the team that controls the glass, wins the game.
And that’s what exactly happened as the Thunder pulled down 16 offensive rebounds which turned into gold. Despite the size of Memphis’ gigantic frontcourt duo of Jarren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey, Oklahoma made it up with on-point box outs and gang rebounding.
Memphis showed some signs of life midway through the third frame when Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant heated up briefly, but Oklahoma weathered the Grizzlies’ storm and put the early exclamation point in the fourth after a 17-4 scoring run.
Oklahoma’s balanced attack was just too much for the Morant-led squad as nine of their players all entered the scoring column.
The top seed in the Western Conference received a huge night from MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who wrapped up the Game 2 win with 27 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Jalen Williams had another solid outing and backstopped SGA with an efficient 24-point outing built from 10/19 shooting from the field alongside six boards, five dimes, and a steal.
Filling the defensive anchor role for the Thunder was Chet Holmgren who tallied a game-high five blocks while also ending the home win with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
On the other hand, the Grizzlies finally had a big scoring night from Jackson Jr. who erupted for 26 points, but the two-way star slowed down in the second half and was contained by Oklahoma’s quick help defensive schemes.
Can Memphis take Game 3 to build around some momentum or will SGA and the electric OKC squad rake the first three games to move a win away from another semifinal appearance?
All these will be answered on April 25, 2025, when the Thunder travels to Memphis for Game 3 of their Western Conference series matchup.
