Advancing to another best-of-seven in the Western conference finals ... for which Game 1 was scheduled roughly 48 hours later. The point being, you could forgive anyone on the Thunder for feeling pretty exhausted ahead of their WCF run vs.

The only upside is that the Thunder stayed home after their Game 7 win. They'll host three consecutive playoff games and spend most of the week in their beds. Alex Caruso has been a defensive monster for the title contender all playoffs. Like a baseball closer who gets hot in October, he's been a game-changer after a pedestrian regular season.

After a nervy first quarter, the Thunder dominated the second quarter and never looked back in a 125-93 win over the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon at Paycom Center.

After Sunday's Game 7, stellar reserve Thunder guard Alex Caruso explained exactly how the Nuggets made the Thunder better over seven games. He said they made Oklahoma City mentally tougher to understand what winning in the postseason takes. In effect, in a matchup of two bona fide championship contenders, iron sharpened iron:

Caruso stepped up in the Thunder's 125-93 Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets. He finished with 11 points and three steals, but his one-on-one defense against Nikola Jokic swung the game to the home squad's favor.

It's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center.