OKLAHOMA CITY — In a do-or-die Game 7 matchup, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault added a new wrinkle to defending Denver Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic: sick 6-foot-5 guard Alex Caruso onto Jokic for extended periods of time. And it worked. Caruso disrupted the NBA's reigning MVP early and often, which led to The Joker scoring 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting, his fewest attempts in the series in a 125-93 Thunder win.

After the win, Caruso addressed what defending Jokic was like and his approach to limiting the 6-foot-11 center to only 11 points off field goals in a critical Game 7 at the Paycom Center.

“He's a phenomenal player. His resume speaks for itself, but he's a different matcup because he does so many different things to get others involved and influence the game. So, for me, it's just about competing,” Caruso said. “There’s nothing to save it for. It’s Game 7, right? So, you’re either going to the next round or your summer’s starting. So, for me, it was just about being relentless with my energy. The effort to make it tough on him.

“And obviously, the guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming because I'm not doing that on my own. But just making stuff tough on him, understanding how the game was going to be called, understanding the flow of the game, where you can be physical, where you can't, and just trying to make him work for stuff,” Caruso concluded.

While defending at a high level on one end of the floor, Caruso's 11 points led the Thunder bench on the other on 5-of-7 shooting with three assists, and three steals. Cutting back on backup center Jaylin Williams' minutes, Daigneault elected to stick with Caruso amid stretches when Jokic was still on the floor.

“Looking at it was a priority going into today. He did an unbelievable job individually,” Daigneault said. “If you're putting a 6-5 guard on a player like that, you need relentless help and relentless pressure on the entry passes. It all works together.”

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Alex Caruso and the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals where they'll face the Timberwolves. Caruso amazed many during Game 7 against the Nuggets, including Chicago Sports Network's K.C. Johnson.

“Nobody fully stops Jokic but Caruso held him to 2-6 in primary matchups and had a steal. Just an insane display of defensive technique and IQ by the former Bull,” Johnson posted.

Caruso and the Thunder will host the Timberwolves in Game on Tuesday.