MEMPHIS — After John Konchar’s corner outside attempt hit the side of the rim, Alex Caruso broke away from traffic and had the easy transition bucket when he received the ball from Jalen Williams. With the FedExForum already emptied, the easy layup was the perfect sendoff for one of the most shocking results in NBA playoffs history.

Somehow, someway, the Oklahoma City Thunder stole a 114-108 Game 3 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. A 29-point comeback marked the second-biggest comeback ever. A 26-point halftime deficit was the biggest hole a team dug out of. This team continues to find ways to impress folks who’ve followed them all season.

“I thought at halftime, we kinda reconnected to who we are. We were very out of character in the first half and some of that had to do with how well Memphis played and the way they landed the first punch and multiple punches after that. So credit to them,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I just thought our response in a game that doesn’t feel attainable in certain parts of it, our response was great.”

Everybody knew this would be the Grizzlies’ best punch. Nobody has ever returned from a 0-3 series deficit. A loss would’ve been the kiss of death. The Thunder understood that. Yet preparing for something and experiencing it are two different things.

The Grizzlies blitzed the Thunder early on. Memphis’ role players were hot. Scotty Pippen Jr. led the way as they carried their crowd’s momentum into their best start of the series. They held a 40-29 lead after the first quarter. The Thunder’s sharp defense was dulled down.

Complacency settled in. The Thunder played like a team with house money while the Grizzlies played like it was in a do-or-die situation. A 29-8 Memphis run blew the scoreboard open as the Thunder entered halftime with a demoralizing 77-51 deficit.

99 out of 100 times, that’s the game. A 29-point deficit is a deep enough hole not to escape from. If I’m being honest, 500 words were already typed into this by the break as the result felt inevitable. But anomalies happen. That’s why the games are played out. If any team could make that type of history, it’d be the Thunder.

Throw in Ja Morant’s second-half absence with a hip injury, and the Thunder slowly believed they could get right back into it. After a one-point first half, Chet Holmgren played the second half with rejuvenated energy. His outside shot fell and he slowly gained his confidence back.

It only took midway through the third quarter for the Thunder to get it under a 20-point hole. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s pull-up 3-pointer made it an 84-65 score with a little under seven minutes left in the frame. Progress. After all, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Chip, chip, chip away. That’s the only mentality they could’ve had with two quarters left.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ offense suddenly sank. The hot outside shooting that exceeded the warmth of their pregame pyros dipped ice cold. Morant’s absence left a franchise-star-sized hole in their offense. They couldn’t generate quality looks.

The Thunder had a 36-18 run in the third quarter to make things interesting. The Grizzlies’ lead was down to a manageable 95-87 entering the fourth frame. Like a pitcher throwing a perfect game, no Thunder fan dared to mention what might happen as it crept closer to reality.

It only took four minutes for the Thunder to finally square things off on the scoreboard. Gilgeous-Alexander swished in three free-throw attempts to make it a 99-99 contest with eight minutes left. From that point forward, it was a high-intensity exchange.

Holmgren tied it up with a 3-pointer at 108 points apiece with a little under three minutes left. Williams then gave the Thunder their first lead at 109-108 when he split a pair of free throws. From then on, their lead only grew. The Grizzlies’ offense was completely absent as they were scoreless in the final 4:51 of the game.

Like the last playoff game, Caruso was the catalyst. Almost like the ball personally disrespected him, he’d rake his arms with full force each time he was near it. He did it hoping for a turnover or disrupting the Grizzlies’ comfort zone. It worked as Memphis was clueless without Morant. It only scored 31 points in the second half and just 13 points in the fourth quarter.

The Grizzlies crowd went quiet in the second half, minus some moments. The energy was zapped out of the building. Morant’s injury hung over the team for the rest of the night like a storm cloud. Memphis was helpless to see it melt away a near-bulletproof 29-point lead.

The Thunder shot 45% from the field and went 13-of-38 (34.2%) from 3. They shot 23-of-33 on free throws. They had 24 assists on 39 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and eight assists. Williams scored an efficient 26 points. Holmgren bounced back with a loud 24 points. Caruso and Isaiah Joe each had 10 points off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies shot 43% from the field and went 14-of-42 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 22-of-26 on free throws. They had 23 assists on 36 baskets. Five Grizzlies players scored double-digit points.

Pippen Jr. led the way with a surprising 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting, five rebounds and five assists. Jaren Jackson Jr. had 22 points and seven rebounds. Morant tallied 15 points and five assists in the first half before he was hurt. Desmond Bane only had 10 points and Santi Aldama scored 14 points off the bench.

The game ended hours ago and I remain speechless. So were the Thunder players in their postgame presser that lasted past midnight. Probably from a mixture of adrenaline and sleepiness as they sat in front of a room filled with reporters and bright lights deep into the night.

Sometimes, there are green flags sprinkled throughout a season that suggest the basketball gods are smiling down upon a team. This was the latest example of that for the Thunder. To come back down by 29 points after such a lackadaisical first half is what a championship winner does on their way to a title.

Any other above-average squad just shrugs their shoulder and moves on to Game 4. Nope. Not OKC. They fought back and took advantage of the game in front of them. Now, they sit pretty with a 3-0 series lead over the Grizzlies that ends any intrigue in this series.

“We got a team of guys that feel a responsibility to each other. They’re going to go down swinging. We could’ve easily lost that game tonight because of the hole we dug ourselves but like I said, we’re going to be tested a lot of different times,” Daigneault said. “We got to be ready to pull together when we do and that’s what I thought we did out of halftime. We were a connected team in the second half of that game in the face of adversity on the road against a team that was playing really well on the road and was hungry.”