It feels like Alex Caruso plays a completely different sport when he is really locked up. Basketball players must be uble to dribble, pass and shoot, and any shortages in those skills tend to be exponentially exposed among the hard spotlights of the NBA play -offs. Caruso, you have competencies of the competence in those areas, but it is not the reason why he completed the fourth quarter of the historical comeback victory of Oklahoma City Thunder in game 3 of their first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Caruso is mentioned on 6’5, 186 pounds, making it a large point Guard or a substandard two. For the Thunder, Caruso is a real position loop weapon, that an All-NBA caliber big man such as Jackson Jr. locked up on one possession and a guard in Scottie Pips Jr. The way Nikola Jokic sees the floor in the attack is how Caruso sees it on the defense and everyone goes one step ahead of giving Oklahoma City a game-game-breaking defender for every situation. The reputation of Caruso as the best defensive specialist of his generation has been solidified for years, but Game 3 showed everything that makes him especially in a high-life game that will fall in the history books.
The Grizzlies led the Thunder with 29 points during the first half of the game 3. It was a shock for the aprter de Thunder system won Game 1 with 51 points and sent to a game 2 -victory without much trable. Memphis broke to the injury of Ja Morant in the second quarter. While OKC was slowly in the lead, Caruso went into the game like a shark that smelled blood in the water, and his decimation of the grizzlies attack was just as visceral and bloody.
The Thunder defeated the Grizzlies, 114-108, on Thursday evening to rise 3-0 in the first round series. Memphis scored only 31 points in the second half on horrible 38.4 pears True Shooting. So many of their struggles can be linked to Caruso’s nuclear defensive game.
Grizzlies players shot 3-of-15 when they fit together in Caruso in Game 3, according to the tracking data of the NBA. He was credited with four steals and one block in the box score, but even that emphasizes his impact. Add his seven deflections and you start to get closer. The Grizzlies could not get into their attacking actions without Caruso succeeding their plans, and it led them to throw away a huge lead.
Here is a Supercut Caruso’s defensive genius in the fourth quarter of game 3. The diversity of impact games is submissive, perhaps no other defense in the NBA can agree.
Jackson Jr. gets a nightmares about Caruso out of season. The supermax contract that he stands in line for Willp falls comfortably asleep after the whole time, but nobody as big and as talented as Jackson has to be locked up by Sub Sumone such as Caruso. That is of course not the type of Efect Caruso has Rugardless of his assignment.
Caruso is extra short for a nominal power forward, but it cannot be bullied. His chest and his feet move at the same time and give him a strong center of gravity to maintain and fight his position through the typical beech in the pole. When the ball is exposed, Caruso uses its razor -sharp hands to sweep down and scream. This type of individual defense will make him a valuable piece for every cross -currencies, but it is the auxiliary defense of the veteran who really unlocks a new level for the Thunder.
Caruso is on the floor as a defensive coordinator and analyzes actions in a fraction of a second while they still have physical talent to recover. His body and mind work at the same time, so that he immediately learned the smartst and the player in a certain matchup.
On this possession, with the Grizzlies three with less than a minute, Caruso helps to determine separately. Coaches like to preach defense, but such skills cannot be taught.
Here is another graph that describes Caruso’d defensive impact in game 3. There is no one like him.
Alex Caruso played 12:34 of the second half last night during which time the Grizzlies had 35 chances to score, and they got away with 13 points. I have 7 different players who steal 4 and collect 3 deflections and generally only destroyed everywhere. pic.twitter.com/uyxobrh715
– Todd Whitehead (@crumpledjumper) April 25, 2025
The Thunder held Caruso on ice for most of the season after he had taken it over in a summer trade with the Chicago Bulls. For most of his career, Caruso has been a bit injuries sensitive: he has to play an incredibly intense brand of basketball to stay on the ground in view of his attacking limitations, and that usually leads to an injury when he played with Caruso only 52 games and on average slightly more than 19 minutes per game for the Thunder this year. According to the Depm metthrical, he was still rated as the best defense of the NBA.
The Thunder had a great defense of all time, even when he kept him in a smaller role. OKC completed no. 1 unit assessment, which means only 106.6 points per 100 assets when the average attack scored 114.5 points per 100 this season. Now they unleash the full power of Caruso in the play -offs, and the early results are frightening for every opponent in their own way.
Oklahoma City took off the robbery of your life to get Caruso from the bulls for Josh Giddey in a 1-1 trade. A year ago, Giddey could not play in the play -offs for OKC, because his shaky defense and lack of shooting was exposed brutally. Although Giddey needed a specific fit to have any success, Caruso is a natural plug-and-play option that perfectly supplements the stars of the Thunder. His skills are pure additive and it increases the ceiling of the Thunder in what a championship season should be.
Giddey has set up great telstatistics in Chicago this season in the second half of the year, but Subone You have to get Tose Statistics if you play the way the Bulls did this season. It is hard to imagine that Giddey could have played in a match like Game 3 on Thursday evening, when the pace delayed and the margins for the creation became slimmer in the Halfourt. It marks the difference between Giddey’s floor collection for bad team and the caruso ceiling increases for a great team. This trade was only a “win-win” then viewed by the low expectations that De Bulls have defined in the last 20 years.
The talents of Caruso were always wasted on a middle team like Chicago that never played for a meaningful game. Large games bring Caruso’s best up, and he will play in many of them for the Thunder, provided that I can stay healthy. He may have no flashy skills or the box score numbers that players get paid, but Caruso has an influence on winning at the highest levels and it helps the Thunder to make the final favorite of the championship.