BBNBA: Cason Wallace caught a body in OKC's blowout playoff win

Unlike Saturday, when there were a couple of good games, Sunday featured mostly blowouts in the NBA playoffs. The Warriors versus Rockets was the only remotely close game, but Golden State led by as many as 23 and kept Houston at arm’s length in the end. Elsewhere, the Cavaliers beat the Heat by 21, the Celtics beat the Magic by 23, and the Thunder demolished the Grizzlies by 51. The latter was the fifth-largest win margin in playoff history. You would naturally anticipate that MVP-favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would have had a monster game in a 51-point victory, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, it was former Wildcat Cason Wallace who provided the highlight of the game.

After coming away with a steal, Wallace took the ball the length of the court and became the daddy of a couple of juniors. Wallace dunked on both Scottie Pippen Jr. and Jaren Jackson Jr. in a play that was a microcosm of the entire afternoon. The bucket was the former Kentucky guard’s only shot and only two points of the game, but he made it count.

Cason Wallace, WOW 😱

📺: ABC pic.twitter.com/zNSoJyDk1U

— ESPN (@espn) April 20, 2025

Wallace was also plus-30 in just 13 minutes of action. It was almost as if the Grizzlies had celebrated April 20th too soon.

Similar to the entire Memphis team, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander never really got going. He only scored 15 points (low by his 30-plus point standard) on 4-13 shooting, including 1-7 from deep. Thankfully, his team didn’t need him on this day, and besides, the NBA MVP is a regular-season-only award anyway.

Adebayo and Herro combined for 45 points in the Heat’s loss to the Cavs

Tyler Herro cooked in the play-in games to help the 10-seed Heat claw their way into the playoffs. Their reward is a series against the top seed in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 1 wasn’t exactly a nail-biter. The Cavs rolled 121-100 as the Heat looked like they weren’t fully recovered from their back-to-back emotional wins to get to this position.

Despite the big loss, nearly half of Miami’s points came via former Kentucky Wildcats. Herro had 21 points while teammate Bam Adebayo led his team with 24 to go along with nine rebounds.

BBNBA Stats for 4/20/2025

Player	Score	PTS	FG (3PT)	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	P/M	MIN
Bam Adebayo (MIA)	100-121 L vs. CLE	24	10-22 (1-5)	9	3	2	1	1	-13	39
Tyler Herro (MIA)	100-121 L vs. CLE	21	7-18 (3-6)	3	2	1	0	3	-18	37
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)	131-80 W vs. MEM	15	4-13 (1-7)	3	5	0	2	2	+28	23
Cason Wallace (OKC)	131-80 W vs. MEM	2	1-1 (0-0)	2	3	1	0	1	+30	13
Reed Sheppard (HOU)	85-95 L vs. GSW	DNP-CD
Kevin Knox II (GSW)	95-85 W vs. HOU	DNP-CD

Tonight in the NBA Playoffs

Eastern Conference First Round | Game 2 | NYK lead 1-0
7:30 (TNT): (6) Pistons @ (3) Knicks (Towns)

Western Conference First Round | Game 2 | DEN leads 1-0
10:00 (TNT): (5) Clippers @ (4) Nuggets (Murray)