The Oklahoma City Thunder have built their championship-level identity on the defensive end of the court; they forced turnovers at a historically great rate and swallowed up the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves in the previous two rounds to make it all the way to the NBA Finals. One player in particular, Alex Caruso, has been brilliant all playoffs long. He’s been tasked to guard everyone from the likes of Ja Morant to Nikola Jokic to Anthony Edwards to Pascal Siakam, and he’s done a brilliant job at slowing all of them down.
Caruso was acquired in a trade that required the Thunder to give up promising prospect Josh Giddey, and it’s safe to say that that deal has been well worth it. He has all the tools in the arsenal to guard the best players in the association, and Jalen Williams gushed about Caruso’s elite defense that once again played a huge part in giving the Thunder a 123-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers to even up the 2025 NBA Finals at 1-1.
“He’s a really good defender. Great hands, good feet. Physical, smart. You got all of that together and the amount of years he’s been in the league, I can imagine it’s probably a little uncomfortable [for others to face him],” Williams said in his postgame presser, via ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel.
“I don’t know. I be frying AC… Nah but he’s a really good defender… Physical [and] smart.”
Jalen Williams on going against Alex Caruso as an opponent or in practice
(via @BrettSiegelNBA) pic.twitter.com/JLMgmsd6rg
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Williams, however, said that he was getting the best of Caruso in practice. But that seems so hard to believe considering how well Caruso has been defending all playoffs long, which might explain the laughter in the media room.
“I don’t know. I be frying AC,” Williams added.
Caruso has to play at the level he’s been doing all playoffs long for the Thunder to keep on rolling with the momentum they got with their rousing Game 2 win.
Alex Caruso rises to the occasion for the Thunder
Caruso has long been proven as one of the best defenders in the NBA after breaking out in a rotation role with the 2020 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. This is what pushed the Thunder to trade for him this past offseason. But come playoff time, it was always going to come down to whether or not Caruso can make enough shots to warrant huge minutes.
So far, Caruso has been money for the Thunder in this year’s playoffs. He’s been shooting 41.6 percent from beyond the arc on 4.3 attempts per game in the postseason, and this has allowed him to thrive as a legitimate two-way weapon for a Thunder team that’s in need of just three more wins to secure the title.
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