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 Recreation 4, one OKC participant has emerged because the X issue for its championship ambitions, and it is not the reigning MVP.
It’s Alex Caruso.
The Thunder’s sixth man has had his fingers throughout this collection and is the principle motive why the Thunder are a fair collection and never down 3-1.
Caruso completed Recreation 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 recreation 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 return off the bench, make some vitality performs, defend the opposite staff’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 evening, 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 recreation. He is doubled his scoring output when his staff has wanted him essentially the most.
Over the course of the common season, Caruso by no means scored greater than 20 factors in a recreation. Now, he is finished it in two occasions 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 properly.
“He is a winner,” Thunder famous person 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 evening, whether or not it is making pictures, 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 evening…
“If you wish to win basketball video games, you have got a man like that in your staff. We’re fortunate to have him.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is correct. Whereas he is the MVP of the league and taking over the duties that include that, Caruso is the rationale why the Thunder at the moment are simply two wins away from an NBA championship.
