
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series on Sunday (Monday, April 21, 2025, PH time), 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.
Warriors 95, Rockets 85
HOUSTON — Stephen Curry scored 31 points and the Golden State Warriors built a huge lead and held on to beat the Houston Rockets 95-85 in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series.
The seventh-seeded Warriors led by 23 in the third quarter, but second-seeded Houston cut it to 69-60 entering the fourth.
A basket by Amen Thompson with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining got the Rockets four. Curry hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night a few seconds later to make it 82-75.
The Rockets cut it to four again with about 2 1/2 minutes left on a 3 by Fred VanVleet. This time Moses Moody hit a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run that made it 91-80 and sent fans streaming for the exits.
Cavaliers 121, Heat 100
CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Ty Jerome had 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat 121-100 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.
Celtics 103, Magic 86
BOSTON — Derrick White scored 30 points, Jayson Tatum had 17 points and finished the game after a scary late fall, and the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 103-86 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Payton Pritchard added 19 points off the bench for Boston. / AP