How Alex Caruso flipped the script within six minutes in Game 7

This may sound hyperbolic, but it took Thunder guard Alex Caruso less than six minutes to single-handedly alter NBA history on Sunday.

When he checked into Game 7 against the Nuggets at the 6:25 mark, the Thunder were down 16-8 and had struggled to muster any offense, missing eight of their first 12 shots. OKC could not crack Denver's 2-3 zone, and thereby didn't make Nikola Jokic work defensively. 

On the other end, Jokic was having his way, finding Christian Braun for lob dunks and walking Chet Holmgren down the floor for easy layups. Denver's hot start silenced the boisterous OKC crowd.

Caruso flipped the script. First, he took on the assignment of guarding Jokic one-on-one, relegating Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein to helpside defenders. Then, he made a vital three in the dying seconds of the first quarter to reduce Denver's lead to five points.

The trend continued the rest of the way as Caruso swiped the ball off Jokic on three occasions, leading to easy transition buckets. He shut down the world's best player while helping his team overcome a cold shooting night — the sort of performance legends are made of.

The first six minutes of Caruso set the tone for the rest of the game, as the rest of the Thunder fed off his energy en route to a 125-93 blowout victory. If not for those six minutes, one wonders if the game would have turned out differently. Jokic had cracked OKC's defense in the previous two games, scoring 29 and 44 when Holmgren and Hartenstein were tasked to defend him. 

If Mark Daigneault hadn't had the wherewithal to switch up his defensive scheme — asking Caruso to challenge every Jokic dribble — the Nuggets may have been headed to the conference finals, not the Thunder. Such an outcome could have altered the NBA's landscape in the immediate future. Perhaps the Thunder would have traded away some core pieces after back-to-back playoff disappointments. Who's to say Caruso wouldn't have been on the trading block too? 

Caruso — who held Jokic to 4-of-12 shooting through seven games despite their size difference — may be the difference between a potential Thunder dynasty and a team that never reached its potential.