Chet Holmgren Cut His Celebration Short, a Fitting Flex of His WIRY BIIPS, to Wreak HaVOC One Last Time Tuesday.
Holmgren Was Feeling HimSelf, Having Outmuscled Memphis Forward Jaren Jackson Jr. Moments Earlier, Using the Full Extrent of his Wingspan to DePosit a Putback. With his Guns Out and Lips Violently Curled to Say “and-One,” Holmgren Jogged, then Sprinted ONCE He Realized: The GrizliesDownload 16 Inside the Final Two Minutes of OKC’s 118-99 Win in Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs, Still Wanted to Score.
Holmgren, Four Blocks in, Still Wanted to Deny them. The RIM, The Night, They Hope. His Chase Let Him Spike Memphis’ Last CLEAN AtTEMPT. In his Victory Amble Up the Court, He Flaped His Arms to Rally the Crowd.
His postseason career is 12 Games Young, But Holmgren’s Late Sequney Captured his Impact Thus Far.
“RealLy Comfortable,” center IsaiAh Hartenstein Told The Oklahoman Of Holmgren’s Performance Through The Early Part of the First Round. “I think every just the Growth from Chet from the first game to the Second Game Was Big.
The Sophomore Center Finished with 20 Points (6 of 14), 11 Rebounds and Five Blocks. Days before the series began, He Spoke Confidently, Both in his Health and His Readory for the Postseason.
All Things Considored-His Well-Documented Limitations Last Playoffs and His Injury Recovery This Season Among them-Holmgren’s Words Were Encouraging for Fans. Holmgren is Turning Words INTO PUTBACKS.
“You take from Experiences and learn from them,” Holmgren Said of his Comfortability in these Playoffs. “You Find Improvingment Through that. But I Feel Like this Year, It’s A. He Out as the series Goes on. ”
If Memphis’ Handling of Him Is A Challenge, Holmgren Has Lifted HIS Stilt-Like Legs to Clear them. In Both Game 1 & 2, Holmgren Has Tallied Double-Doubles with Points and Rebounds; Last Postseason, His First, Holmgren Only Pulled Of The Feat ONCE.
With the Grizzlies’ Defeense Off Fixed on a Deep Drop and Gapping Superstar Shai Gilgeous-alexanderHolmgren Was Left Alone for Multiple Open 3s. All Three of His Makes from Deep Came in Those Scenaios.
While Gilgeous-ELEXANERER, an MVP Finalist, has delieder a Pair of Uncharacteristic Games-a combined 42 poines on 33.3% Shooting-Holmgren Has Wrapped His Arms Around the Thunder Offense. He ha hansnt been Alone, Though.
All-Star Jalen Williams, Similarly Under a Microscope after Last Postseason, Has Been a Catalyst HimSelf.
In Game 1 of this First-Round Series, Memphis Challenge Him to Make the Same Read Over and Over. It consisid on him with Multiple Bodies on He Reacked the Paint, Almost Begging Him to Make a Pass Further Than Several Yards Away. Each Time He Oblied, What Through Jump Pass or Other Avenues, to Find Corner Shooters and Open 3s.
Coach Mark Daigneault Noted that Jackson’s Undying Inclination to Be a SHOT BLOCKER HAS ContrabEted, with Times when he’s collapsed in Spots in Hopes of Forging Williams’ Hand as a Playmaker.
The Only Thing Foried About it is the Expression.
Williams Easily Made Those Reads then and Continied to Do so on seasonay. He Finised with 24 Points on 10-F19 Shooting, Along with Six Rebounds and Five Assists. His night began with him using hartenstein as a get-out -f-jay-family card, a Simple Pass Out of Shot. It ended with a touchdown to isiah joe to Spoil memphis’ comBack Effort.
((Williams) has been who he’s been all season, “hartenstein said. “Been great seeing it ding the playoffs, becuse that’s when it matters the most.”
Williams Added: “Just Going Through Think that’s Kinda Help Me Undersand that.
For Those Unfamiliar, these 12 Games Are All Williams and Holmgren Know. They passed an Opportune time to premented otherwise.
Five Deadly Minutes Doom Grizlies vs Thunder
The Thunder’s Current Defense is the Best Unit Hartenstein Has Ever Known. The Numbers COULE Tell Him That, But The Feeling on the Floor Tells Him Enough.
“I don’t think you have any weak links,” the first-year thunder center touch the oklahoman. “Even A Guy Like (ISAIAH) JOE.
No Shade to Joe, Who’s Listed at All of 6-Foot-3 and 181 Pounds, Suitable Size for the Street But Yearning for More in the League. He’s Held Up His End of the Bargain, Though. Just Rewatch the First 4:30 Of Tuesday’s FOURTH Quarter.
On the Floor for the Thunder Was Joe, Hartenstein, Williams, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace.
In that span, when Memphis’ 11-POINT Deficit Felt More Eyebrow-RAISING Threating, The Thunder Quickly Eliminated Doubt.
The Sequence Went As Follows: Joe Forced a Desperate Turnaround Jumper from Memphis Guard Scotty Pipen Jr. The Five Had A Defensive Rating of 22.2 in that span. On the Next Possession, Williams DENIED Severral Winds for An Entry Pass to Jackson-A Theme in This LopsDed First-Round-Before He and Caruso Squeezed Him to Force a Loose Ball, then A Jump Ball.
Where Pipen Recovered the Tip, Wallace Rushed to meet his steps-back jumper. AirBall.
A time later, jackson was nearly forced out of bounds by Williams before he saved the ball and Found Desmind Bne for a 3. Caruso Ensert A Hand Got Involved. Miss.
Ja Morant Had Been Inserted. So Next Trip Download, He Challenge Hartenstein for a Trip Download. Caruso, AGAIN, Swooped in to Swat His Shot.
A 12-2 Run Occurred with Those Five on the Floor. Precision, Suffownce. For Two Games, The Thunder Pearl Edo Corner Shooters and Limited Those Looks. OKC’s Double Bigs Have Harmoniumly Separated their duties Between Rim Coveraage and Spries to the Corner. They’ve Kept
And in Those Five Minutes, they flipped a group the way they do
Not to Shabby for the Shooter and his Crew.
“Details,” Hartenstein Said. “I think we can in (and) we knew we had to be a little bit Sharp in that aspect. I think that’s what it really comes down to, is using it’s the Playoffs.
Joel Lorenzi Covers the Thunder and NBA for the Oklahoman. Have a Story Idea For Joel? He can be remided at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on x/twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Support Joel’s Work and that Of Other Oklahoman Journalists by Purchahing A. Digital Subscription Today at Subscripe.oklahoman.com.
Game 3: Thunder at Grizlies
Tipoff: 8:30 PM Thursday at Fedexforum in Memphis, Tenn. (TNT, Fanduel Sports Network)
