Alex Caruso gets 100% real on Thunder’s secret weapon

Oklahoma City Thunder veteran and lone champion Alex Caruso preached the importance of closing out a series ahead of Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets.

Caruso says the Thunder’s late-game execution has grown since the beginning of the postseason.

“We’ve done it at times this year against good teams. We were down at home to a couple of teams, went on the road, and won some tough games. But it’s different when there’s something on the line in the postseason,” Caruso said. “So, just recognizing the moment, being able to course correct, and finding ways to win ugly games are what the postseason is about. I don’t think we had our best stuff for the majority of the last game, but we hung in there and kept making runs.

“Credit to them. They kept throwing punches, too. But just being able to secure the last stretch and finish the game out; that’s big for us,” Caruso concluded.

Gaining that experience of fighting to keep a lead against the Nuggets in the postseason has benefited Caruso and the Thunder.

“Just from a sense of not getting the reps during the year; that’s probably it. Not being able to work on certain scenarios,” Caruso added. “But we’ve done extensive film work, court walk through, stuff during the year to stay on top of that because we haven’t had a lot of opportunities during the regular season. With that being said, I think we’ve done a good job, like I said, of just growing from game to game, like even from Game 4 of Memphis, where we were up 10-12, three minutes to go.

“They made a run. Then, we had to squeeze it out. To being able to come back from down 12 in the fourth quarter at home last game and execute, and pull away there. This team is getting better and I think that’s the scary thing,” Caruso concluded.

Alex Caruso on the ‘most dangerous thing’ about Thunder’s Game 5