The 6-foot-5 guard played his role to perfection as the ‘Jokić Stopper’ in Game 7 to help send OKC to the Western Conference Finals.

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 th

The juggernaut but extremely young Oklahoma City Thunder did not have this essential trait before they beat the Nuggets in an epic seven-game second-round series. They did not have the necessary (and inevitable) experience of getting knocked to the mat and having to pick themselves up because there was still so much time left in the fight.