Alex Caruso: The silent hero of the Oklahoma City Thunder
Caruso’s hot shooting and Game 3 dominance
Alex Caruso has quietly become the Thunder’s most dangerous shooter in this Western Conference Finals. He’s leading everyone in made three-pointers per game, and his barrage from deep was a huge reason Oklahoma City walked away from Game 3 with a convincing win, reclaimed home-court advantage and now hold a 2–1 series edge over the San Antonio Spurs.
Across the first three games, Caruso’s production has been eye-catching: he’s poured in 31 points with eight triples in one outing, and followed that with 17 (3 threes) and 15 (3 threes) in the other two. Overall he’s averaging roughly 21 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per contest in the series.
Efficiency, context, and what it means
What makes this run stand out is his efficiency. Caruso is shooting over 60% from the field and nearly 61% from long range in the series — a huge jump from his regular-season three-point rate of about 29%. In the last three games alone he’s knocked down 14 of 23 attempts from deep, which is a stunning flip from the regular season numbers.
His current pace of roughly 4.6 made threes on 7.7 attempts per game is the most by any player in a Western Conference Finals since Stephen Curry’s 2019 performance, showing just how rare and impactful this level of volume and accuracy is in a series this deep.
Beyond raw numbers, Caruso’s play has given the Thunder reliable spacing, quick defensive pressure and timely scoring when the team needs it most. If Oklahoma City can close out the Spurs and advance, Caruso will be a strong candidate for Western Conference Finals MVP — his two-way impact has been that important to the team’s success so far.
Whether this hot streak holds for the remainder of the series is the big question, but for now Caruso has become the silent hero every contender loves to have: steady, efficient, and seemingly able to flip the switch in a big moment.
