In Round 1 sweep over Suns, Alex Caruso shows why he's an NBA playoff riser

To keep pace with the Suns' blitzing start, Caruso had 11 points in the first quarter. After a third outside make, he went for a heat check that barely missed. Even though his jumper eventually cooled off, he was a must-play the rest of the way. Simply from what he did on defense.

When Caruso was quarterbacking his Thunder teammates, he anticipated the Suns' offense. Booker never really looked comfortable in this Round 1 series. And Green reverted to being a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer. You can thank the 32-year-old for a lot of that.

Isaiah Hartenstein talked about Caruso's Round 1 series. He averaged nine points, four rebounds and 1.8 steals. He shot an impressive 47.1% from 3 on 4.3 attempts — quite the contrary to his career-worst 29.3% number on 3.2 attempts in the regular season.

"I just think he's really big for our team. The last two games, he was huge. So just knowing that you have someone like that on a team that you can trust. Knowing when the big moments come, he's ready. I think that's what he does, probably one of the best in the league," Hartenstein said about Caruso. "Again, it's not easy to have maybe not that big of a role throughout the regular season. And then when the playoffs come, they're like, 'Hey, now lock in.' So I think he's a unique player. He's a great competitor. Just love having him on my team."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: In Round 1 sweep over Suns, Alex Caruso shows why he's an NBA playoff riser