With the NBA Finals tied up at 2-2 after an exciting 111-104 comeback victory by the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder over the Indiana Pacers in Sport 4, one OKC participant has emerged because the X issue for its championship ambitions, and it isn’t the reigning MVP.
It’s Alex Caruso.
The Thunder’s sixth man has had his palms throughout this collection and is the primary motive why the Thunder are taking a look at an excellent collection and never down 3-1.
Caruso completed Sport 4 with 20 factors, three rebounds and 5 steals all whereas capturing 77.8% from the ground, changing into the second participant in NBA historical past to complete a Finals sport with over 20-plus factors, five-plus steals and a capturing proportion of 75%-plus, per StatMuse.
Caruso is a veteran defensive wing whose job is to come back off the bench, make some vitality performs, defend the opposite group’s finest participant and simply be a basic pest, however this collection, he has turned himself into maybe Oklahoma Metropolis’s most indispensable participant.
Over the course of the common season, Caruso put up a stat line of seven.1 factors, 2.9 rebounds and a pair of.5 assists per night time, extraordinarily respectable numbers for a defense-first guard who comes off the bench. Nevertheless, within the NBA Finals, these numbers have grown to 14.8 factors, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and a pair of.5 steals per sport. He is doubled his scoring output when his group has wanted him essentially the most.
Over the course of the common season, Caruso by no means scored greater than 20 factors in a sport. Now, he is accomplished it in two instances within the Finals. It is no shock that the Thunder’s first two victories within the collection corresponded with Caruso’s excessive scoring outputs in Video games 2 and 4. Within the Finals, he is turn into OKC’s third main scorer, outscoring the likes of Chet Holmgren and Luguentz Dort.
Caruso’s teammates are beginning to discover it as effectively.
“He is a winner,” Thunder celebrity guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told the media after Game 4. “To place all of it into one phrase. He does no matter it takes on any given night time, whether or not it is making photographs, whether or not it is deflections, whether or not it is a steal, whether or not it is a block, whether or not it is a rebound. He does no matter it takes each night time…
“If you wish to win basketball video games, you’ve gotten a man like that in your group. We’re fortunate to have him.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is true. Whereas he is the MVP of the league and taking over the duties that include that, Caruso is the explanation why the Thunder are actually simply two wins away from an NBA championship.
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