For a team that won 68 games in the regular season, the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder sure have more doubters than one would expect. Many think that the Thunder may trip up in the earlier rounds the way they did last year, but they seemed to have shut that kind of talk down really quickly after demolishing the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of their 2025 NBA playoffs first-round matchup, 131-80, in a game that OKC led by as many as 56 points.
This Thunder squad is brilliant, complete on both ends with weapons who have bought in completely into the system head coach Mark Daigneault has in place. There is no coincidence that this team won 68 games, and many are going to learn the hard way just how difficult it will be to knock out the Thunder in a seven-game series.
OKC has reached plenty of great heights in the past, but this year is looking like their best chance at winning a championship yet. Every championship run begins somewhere, and the Grizzlies may have to call upon the power of a higher being just so they could get a chance at winning a single ballgame in this series.
With that said, here are a few bold predictions for the rest of the Thunder's first-round series against the Grizzlies.
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Thunder sweep the Grizzlies, win the series by an average of 25+ points
Ja Morant, following the Grizzlies' blowout loss in Game 1, was steadfast in his belief that the Grizzlies won't be playing as poorly as they did in Game 1 for the rest of the series. Perhaps that is true. After all, the Grizzlies were a playoff team in the loaded Western Conference, and it would be rather dumbfounding (and perhaps grounds for the franchise's deletion from existence) if they lose another playoff game by over 50 points.
But this Thunder team has had the Grizzlies' number for a while now, and not losing by 50 is quite a low bar for Memphis anyway. This may be an overreaction following the the Thunder's Game 1 dominance, but it's just hard to envision a scenario where the Grizzlies make this series even remotely competitive.
For starters, the Grizzlies have crapped the bed against winning teams throughout the 2024-25 season; of their 48 wins this past season, only 14 came against teams that finished with a .500 record or better. Just to make matters worse, the Thunder didn't just sweep the season series, they also have won nine consecutive regular-season games against them dating back to two seasons ago.
Of those nine games the Thunder won consecutively, seven have been blowout victories; the average margin of victory for OKC during that span is around 16.9 points. It's just a lopsided matchup in favor of OKC; they are the rock to the Grizzlies' scissors.
Now, an average margin of victory of 25 in a playoff series is absurd. But with the Thunder having won Game 1 by 51 points, OKC only has to win the next three games by a combined margin of 49 points to get to that mark. That is doable, and perhaps even likely, considering that this Grizzlies team has been dead in the water for quite some time now.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only averages 25 minutes in the series
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in Game 1, was far from his best self, and yet it scarcely mattered. Even though he went just 4-13 from the field for 15 points on the night, the Thunder star was still a +28 and his team still won by a huge margin. As a result, he needed to play just 23 minutes, which, quite frankly, may have been far too many considering that OKC had the game well in hand by the halftime interval.
Following the prediction that the Thunder blow out the Grizzlies for the next three games of the series, Gilgeous-Alexander will be limited to such a small role that he need not log a heavy workload. He will be limited to an average of 25 minutes in the series as OKC looks to keep him fresh for the long playoff run that looks more likely for them than ever after their Game 1 rout of Memphis.
Aaron Wiggins finishes the series as the team's leading scorer
With the Thunder being able to spread the workload around the rest of their deep, championship-level roster, there are bound to be some unsung heroes that rise to the occasion. In Game 1, Aaron Wiggins ended up leading the team in scoring, putting up 21 points in 26 minutes of action.
Expect Wiggins to carry over this momentum into the rest of the series, ending the Thunder's beatdown of the Grizzlies as the team's leading scorer.
