OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Memphis Grizzlies 118-99 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Oklahoma City delivered a strong follow-up to its record-setting 131-80 win on Sunday in the series opener. Though Memphis was the team with something to prove, the Thunder came out with the energy. Oklahoma City opened with a 9-0 run and held Memphis scoreless for the first 3 1/2 minutes as the Grizzlies missed their first 10 shots.
The Thunder led 32-17 at the end of the first quarter and never trailed.
“We never underestimate our opponent, no matter what,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Obviously they’re a very good team. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. And we just wanted to make an emphasis to come out and win that first quarter, set the tone for the night.”
Jalen Williams added 24 points and Chet Holmgren had 20 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the top-seeded Thunder.
Oklahoma City’s offense produced, despite Gilgeous-Alexander making just 10 of 29 shots.
“Everybody that touched the court played with confidence, played the right way, and we’re going to need that,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “You know, in all these games, it’s going to be different guys on different nights.” The Thunder have won all six games against the Grizzlies this season by double digits.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 26 points and Ja Morant added 23 for Memphis, which will host Game 3 on Thursday.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had been off for the first five quarters of the series, found his shot in the second quarter. He hit two 3-pointers 55 seconds apart to put Oklahoma City up 55-38. Oklahoma City led 70-52 at the break after setting a team playoff record with 12 3-pointers in the first half.
Memphis started hot in the third and cut its deficit to single digits, but the Thunder took a 90-79 lead into the fourth.
“The difference was that we started seriously competing in the third quarter and basically played them to a tie after that,” Memphis interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “But it’s against a team of this caliber, we need that for the whole 48 minutes right from the get go. And we’ve got to have an attack mindset right from the start and not take any steps back.”
Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace faked out Zach Edey, then went baseline for a one-handed jam that put the Thunder up 97-79 and brought the crowd to its feet.
The Thunder held Memphis scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the fourth. It was the second straight game that Memphis failed to score at least 100 points.
