The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series on Sunday, the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history.
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Oklahoma City, which finished the regular-season with a league-best 68-14 record, looked every bit the part of an overall No. 1 seed.
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s scoring champion with nearly 33 points per game, scored just 15. The Thunder still shot 50.5% from the field.
Ja Morant scored 17 points for Memphis on just 6-for-17 shooting. Jaren Jackson Jr., who averaged just over 22 points in the regular season, scored four points on 2-for-13 shooting. Marvin Bagley III also scored 17, but the Grizzlies shot just 34.4% overall.
There have been two 58-point playoff margins in NBA history: Denver beating New Orleans 121-63 on April 27, 2009, and the Minneapolis Lakers beating the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 on March 19, 1956.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat Golden State by 56 (126-70) on April 21, 1973, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks by 54 (120-66) on April 30, 2015.
And now, a 51-point game — where the Thunder had it well in hand by early in the second quarter.
This was Memphis’ first playoff game under interim coach Tuomas Iisalo. He coached just nine NBA regular-season games before the play-in games.
Game 2 is Tuesday.
CELTICS 103, MAGIC 86
BOSTON (AP) — Derrick White scored 30 points, Jayson Tatum had 17 points and finished the game after a scary late fall, and Boston beat Orlando in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Payton Pritchard added 19 points off the bench for Boston, which hosts Game 2 on Wednesday night. Jaylen Brown played 31 minutes and had 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting after missing the final three games of the regular season due to a lingering knee issue.
With Boston leading 89-73 with 8:28 remaining, Tatum went up for a dunk and was hit hard by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he tried to block it. Tatum landed awkwardly on his right side.
He stayed down briefly before eventually rising to his feet, clenching his right hand. After a video review by referees, Caldwell-Pope’s foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul. Tatum subsequently missed the two ensuing free throws but remained in the game.
Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 36 points and 11 rebounds. Franz Wagner added 23 points for Orlando, which has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2009-10 season.
Orlando led by a point at halftime, limiting a Boston team that set an NBA record for 3-pointers this season to 7 of 15 from beyond the arc in the opening 24 minutes and 16 of 37 for the game.
But the Magic turned the ball over six times in the third quarter and were outscored 30-18 as the Celtics took a 78-65 lead into the fourth. The Celtics’ lead grew as high as 19 in the final period.
For the game, Orlando finished with 15 turnovers which led to 24 Boston points.
CAVALIERS 121, HEAT 100
CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Ty Jerome had 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and Cleveland beat Miami in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
It was the seventh straight series where Mitchell has scored at least 30 points in Game 1, tying Michael Jordan, who had two streaks of seven games.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points and Tyler Herro added 21 for the Heat. They are the first No. 10 seed to advance to the playoffs out of the Play-In Tournament.
Darius Garland added 27 for the Cavaliers, who host Game 2 on Wednesday night. Garland and Jerome each had five 3-pointers for Cleveland, and the Cavaliers were 18 of 43 from beyond the arc.
Cleveland had a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter, but Miami steadily cut it down and got to 98-90 with 7:26 remaining in the fourth. Cleveland put it out reach though with a 13-4 run that included 10 straight points by Jerome, who was taking part in his first playoff game.
Jerome was 6 of 7 from the field, and made all three of his 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.
The Associated Press
