Texas A&M basketball great provides key hustle minutes in historic playoff victory

In one of the more memorable nights in Oklahoma City Thunder history, also ended in heartbreak for the Memphis Grizzlies. Following a controversial undercut by Oklahoma City star defender Lu Dort as Ja Morant was in mid-air, Morant fell to the floor hard. Morant was forced out of the game and the Thunder took advantage of Morant's absence.

The Grizzlies were up by as much as 29 points, and the Thunder rallied for a furious second-half turnaround. The Thunder ended up pulling off the second-largest comeback in NBA playoff history. With star players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren leading the charge, the finishing touches were led by Alex Caruso, who played the bruiser role by diving for loose balls and stripping the ball away.

Caruso's hustle minutes show he was OKC's hidden gem all along

With Caruso not showing up on the stat sheet, his hustle minutes meant everything for OKC's comeback down the stretch. As he goes up against Scottie Pippen Jr., he strips the ball away leading to Dort grabbing a loose ball and OKC calling a timeout.

Even though Caruso's stat sheet wasn't extremely attractive, his defensive stats meant everything for OKC to complete this furious rally.

This is the game directly following Caruso saying he can't be diving on the floor every night eight years into his NBA career. He said he's figured out how to play in this stage of his career. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault credited Caruso for changing "every game he's in." This was one of the more predictable things to happen to Caruso's career, and it shows the Thunder's trade from Josh Giddey to Caruso was a solid move.

While the Thunder have guys like Dort and Cason Wallace who are defensive hustlers, Caruso has the experience as well as the body to compete on defense and change the momentum. He's telling the rest of the NBA to watch out because just as Caruso said himself, he's figured it out now.