Thunderstruck

It's over. At least the first-round playoff series of the Oklahoma City Thunder versus the Memphis Grizzlies. The number one seed in the NBA and the Western Conference are simply too much and are steamrolling the Grizzlies.

In the first two games of the series at the Thunder's homecourt, the Thunder blew out the Grizz by an average of 35 points per game including a 51-point win in Game One, the fifth biggest margin of victory in NBA playoff history and seven points shy of the record.

In the pivotal Game Three, a must win for Memphis since no team has ever come back from a 0-3 series deficit, the Grizz had a 29-point lead in the second quarter only to evaporate as they were able to sustain it. Superstar Ja Morant was injured with a few minutes left to play in the said quarter.

In the final 24 minutes, the Thunder outscored the Grizzlies 63-31, leaving the homecourt crowd stunned at the FedEx Forum as the latter stole a 114-108 victory.

Morant is doubtful for Game Four and with him out, it would take a miracle for Memphis to extend this series to even five games. In the regular season, both teams played four times with the Thunder shutting out the Grizzlies.

Oklahoma is the only team in the league that are in the top five in terms of offense and defense finishing with a 68-14 record, outscoring teams by 12.9 point per game. That point differential smashed the previous mark that stood for more than half a century. The Los Angeles Lakers outscored teams by 12.3 points per game in the 1971-72 season enroute to the championship.

If you look at the rest of the playoff bracket in the Western Conference, the Thunder are literally home free all the way to the NBA Finals. Their next opponent would be the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Clippers series and there is no way that any of these teams could match the size, depth and prowess of the Thunder on both ends of the floor.

On the other side of the bracket, potential Western Conference Final opponents for the Thunder include the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. With Jimmy Butler out for Golden State and expected to miss a few games, Houston is heavily favored to win the series.

Just to underscore the gap between the teams, the No. 2 Rockets finished the regular season a full 16 games behind Oklahoma with 52 wins followed by the Lakers with 50.

In the Eastern Conference, it is only the defending champions, Boston Celtics, that can possibly challenge the Thunder in the Finals, but they are nursing several injuries and are being challenged by the Orlando Magic in the first round. Starters Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday are managing injuries and Kristaps Porzingis has been an injury risk his entire career.

The Thunder are having a dominant and magical season and only a major injury to their top players can stop them. They are poised to win the franchise's first championship in nearly 50 years.

raffyrledesma@yahoo.com