The OKC Thunder put on quite an exciting performance Thursday, as they stormed back from a 29-point deficit and came away from the night with a 114-108 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
With this, they now find themselves fresh off the second-largest playoff comeback from over the last 25 years and, more importantly, sporting a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven quarterfinal series.
Unsurprisingly, following such a contest, enthusiasm surrounding this Oklahoma City squad is wildly high, as a popular narrative seems to be that they finally proved themselves capable of overcoming challenging in-game adversities.
Considering they finished the season with a record-setting point differential of 12.9, it's quite apparent that their experience playing in tightly contested games is rather limited.
Because of this, at least on paper, being on the right side of the largest halftime comeback in playoff history could, in theory, help some people quell concerns about the club's ability to navigate through serious adversities.
Unfortunately, however, we do not live in a purely on-paper reality, meaning that even though the final score and historical implications certainly warrant praise, they don't necessarily mean fans or, frankly, this team should be riding too high off the outcome of Game 3.
Thunder mustn't forget the hole they were in before Ja Morant's injury
No, this is not an argument that there's nothing positive to be taken away from Thursday night's showdown.
In fact, from Chet Holmgren's second-half offensive heroics to Alex Caruso's electrifying defensive efforts, there are a ton of things this Thunder team deserves to be proud of following Game 3.
However, it's hard to look at how things ultimately played out and not think of Ja Morant's second-half absence and the kind of impact it may have had on the game.
In 15 minutes played during the first two quarters of action, the All-Star found himself having quite an impressive start to the contest, as he dropped 15 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the floor during this span while accounting for 13 other points as a result of his five assists.
With his effective penetration and frightening attack-mode mentality right out of the gates, Morant's presence alone greatly benefited Memphis' offensive game plan, as he was directly responsible for 36.3 percent of his team's 77 first-half points and opened up clean scoring looks with his early efficiency.
Mere minutes before going into the break, and with the Thunder trailing by 27, the point guard took a nasty fall to the hardwood following a defensive contest from Lu Dort that, ultimately, sent him to the locker room.
Sadly for him, he would not make it back into the game.
Without facing Morant and his on-pace-for-30-plus points, Oklahoma City would find themselves going on a major second-half run, seeing a 14-7 stretch right out of the gates to start the third and, in the end, outscored the Grizzlies 63-31 during the final two periods.
Now, hypotheticals are always a tricky subject. Especially with how things wound up turning out with Memphis' truly putrid shooting efforts during the last 24 minutes of play (shot just 25.0 percent from the floor), it's impossible to definitively say whether the night would have ended differently had the guard not gotten hurt.
However, considering just how deep of a hole the Thunder found themselves in with Morant leading the charge, it's a real challenge not to think that this series would have been heading into Game 4 at 2-1 rather than 3-0.
Nevertheless, Oklahoma City undeniably finds itself gearing up for Saturday's festivities with a chance to clinch a clean sweep and punch its ticket to the conference semifinal for the second consecutive season.
Still, it's hard to say whether Thursday's outcome was more of a result of OKC's greatness or Memphis' injuries.