NBA

Thunder Set NBA Record Against Grizzlies With Largest Ever Game 1 Victory

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By
Vivek Jacob
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Vivek Jacob Sports Editor

Vivek Jacob is a freelance sports writer with over seven years experience. During this time, he has written for outlets including The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Sportsnet, CBC, and Complex. Primarily covering the NBA, Vivek also covers tennis, soccer, and cricket.

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Published20 Apr 2025

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The Oklahoma City Thunder thoroughly dismantled the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1 of their first round matchup.

Winning by 51 points set an NBA record for the largest margin of victory in Game 1 history. It is also a franchise record for any playoff game victory by the Thunder.

Oklahoma City’s win fell a bit short of the all-time record for largest margin of victory in a playoff game. That was set by the Denver Nuggets when they defeated the New Orleans Hornets 121-63, a margin of 58 points.

The Minneapolis Lakers also accomplished a 58-point victory, way back in 1956 against the Atlanta Hawks.

Oklahoma City also set a franchise record for assists in a playoff game with 37. Their bench outscored the Grizzlies’ starters 51-36.

Memphis guard Desmond Bane set an unwanted record with a minus-51 in 27 minutes, the worst in playoff history. Jaren Jackson’s four points were also a playoff-career low.

Grizzlies’ Lack Of Energy Schedule Related?

Now, to be clear, no level of convenient scheduling was going to prevent the Thunder from making a statement in Game 1.

Could the largest margin of victory in Game 1 history been avoided, though?

Memphis played late on Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks in order to clinch the eighth and final playoff spot. They then had to fly out to Oklahoma City on Saturday and be ready to play at 1:00 p.m. EST Sunday. That’s hardly any preparation time for a playoff game.

Especially considering these are two Western conference teams, it’s hard to understand why these two teams were scheduled to play the early afternoon game.

The Boston Celtics hosted the Orlando Magic at 3:30 p.m. while the Cleveland Cavaliers played host to the Miami Heat at 7:00 p.m. EST. Surely those two games should have had the afternoon slots?

Some will counter that this is the penalty the Grizzlies pay for having to make the postseason via the Play-In Tournament.

The simple counter argument to that is the fact Memphis finished 48-34 and shouldn’t have had to earn the eighth seed against a 39-43 Mavericks squad.

On to Game 2.