Championship puzzle! How fragrant is Caruso in this playoffs?

G5 in the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder defeated the Timberwolves 124-94, eliminated their opponents 4-1 with a big score, and advanced to the finals.

This game was quite brutal. The Thunder only gave the Timberwolves 9 points in the first quarter, leading by 17 points in a single quarter. In the second quarter, the Thunder beat the Timberwolves 39-23 again, leading by 33 points 65-32 at halftime, and scored more than twice the Timberwolves. In the second half, although the Timberwolves felt a warmer, they could not play a threatening wave. The score difference in the entire second half was more than 20 points, and even the score difference in the entire fourth quarter was about 30 points, and there was no suspense in the outcome.

There is no doubt that this victory belongs to Alexander.

In the whole game, Alexander only played 33 minutes, made 14 of 25 shots, 2 of 4 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 34 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists. He scored 12 points and 5 assists in the first quarter, scoring 20 points in the half, with a plus-minus value of +23 in the whole game.

Alexander encountered many doubts in the first three games of this round of series, especially G1 and G3. However, in the last two games, a 40-point playoff career high, and a 4-free throw and 34-pointer, which should have shattered a lot of scolding.

After the Thunder advanced, Alexander was elected as the MVP of the Western Conference Finals without any suspense. He averaged 31.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in this round of the series. The quality of the star can also be said to be the opponent Edwards.

In addition to Alexander, the other two core members of the Thunder also performed well in this game:

-Jewe, 7 of 14 shots, scored 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, plus-negative value +25

-Chett, 8 of 13 shots, scored 22 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks, plus-negative value +21

At the end of the half, Alexander, Jewe and Chett had already scored 50 points together. For comparison, the five starting players in the Timberwolves scored a total of 50 points in this game.

and, in this game and even this round of series, the Thunder also has an unignorable hero - Caruso.

Only look at this game of G5, Caruso played for 24 minutes in total, made 1 of 5 shots, 6 of 6 free throws, scored 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 0 mistakes. His three-pointers were inaccurate, but the defensive end could be said to have put enough pressure on the Timberwolves.

Especially in the first half, Caruso can be said to be everywhere, with Randall's life interruption, two direct interceptions, and countless single defenses, assisted defense and sabotage. Even when Reed saw Caruso coming, he lost the ball before he even had the intensity.

Of course, the Thunder's defensive strengths are not only Caruso, but Alexander, Jewe and Dort are all players at the best defensive team level. The whole team forced the Timberwolves to make 14 mistakes in the first half, which was more than their goals (12 goals), fully demonstrating the level of the league's No. 1 defensive strong team.

But only discussing Caruso, this round and even the entire playoffs are so delicious.

Since the playoffs, Caruso has handed over data: 16 games, averaging 8.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game, shooting percentage of 45.8%/41.5%/76.2% in three events, and a real shooting percentage of 60.7%.

seized many three-point opportunities on the offensive end, while directly destroyed the opponent on the defensive end. He had to interfere with 10.2 shots per game, and his opponent's shooting percentage dropped by 2.7%, of which the three-point shooting percentage dropped by 6.1%.

Specifically for the counterpart, Caruso has the most defenses in the playoffs this year:

—Westbrook, 83 rounds, 4 of 11 shots, scored 9 points and 1 turnover

—Jokic, 65 rounds, 4 of 12 shots, scored 17 points and 4 turnovers

—Jarren Jr., 54 rounds, 5 of 11 shots, scored 10 points and 3 turnovers

—Murray, 49 rounds, 10 of 19 shots, scored 24 points and 6 turnovers

—Randall, 44 rounds, 5 of 6 shots, scored 12 points and 2 turnovers (first four games)

Going to inside lines like Jokic and Jaren Jr., down to defenders like Westbrook and Murray, or bull-type forwards like Randle, Caruso can defend all of them, and the defense effect is very good.

The semi-finals against the Nuggets, and one of the winning points in the tiebreak battle against the Thunder was to let Caruso fight Jokic. Caruso defended Jokic in 33 rounds in the game. The latter only made 5 shots in total, scoring 7 points and 2 mistakes, which was much better than Harten and Chet's defense.

And the data cannot even fully reflect Caruso's role. His every time he supplements defense, the team's quick prediction when he is played in a fast break, and the pinch attack when he shrinks the inside line can sometimes not be measured by data.

on/off data can show Caruso's value. This year's playoffs:

- When Caruso is on the court, the Thunder loses 99.6 points in 100 rounds, and 17.4 points in the opponent's net defeat

- Caruso is not on the court, the Thunder loses 105.3 points in 100 rounds, and 6.0 points in the opponent's net defeat

The players with the highest positive and negative values ​​in the Thunder team are Alexander (+158), Carson Wallace (+140), Chet (+135), and Jewish (+131), and then Caruso's +116.

At this point, it is inevitable that there are two things to say.

One is that in the offseason last year, the Thunder exchanged Gidey single for Caruso. The facts proved that this deal was very correct. The Bulls got a good reconstruction core, while the Thunder continued to improve their defense, which was a win-win deal..

The second is that during the 2021 offseason, the Lakers actually chose the latter between Caruso and Horton Tucker. At that time, Caruso only hoped to get a three-year and 30 million contract, but the Lakers were only willing to provide three-year and 21 million. In the end, Caruso joined the Bulls with four-year and 37 million.

If Caruso did not leave, it is hard to say whether the Lakers will return to the finals or win the championship, but at least in the past three rounds of the series (Nuggets, Nuggets, Timberwolves), the Lakers will not only win 2 games.

Of course, no matter how entangled things in the past is, the reality is that Caruso's arrival has become the Thunder's championship puzzle. They not only won 68 times in the regular season, but have also set foot on the finals floor after 13 years.

No one is always young, but there are always people young. In 2012, Durant was 23 years old, Westbrook was 23 years old, Harden was 22 years old, and the third young master was full of energy, but he returned in a defeat in the finals.

This year's Thunder not only has three young masters, but also a number of puzzles such as Caruso, Wallace, Hartten, etc. The dream that the thunder has not been fulfilled, this thunder may have the chance to complete.