The Oklahoma City Thunder will try – desperately try – to finish out the Memphis Grizzlies in Tennessee tonight at 9pm EST.
Why Desperately? Because The Grizzlies, the 8th seed in the West, have not made these Western Conference Semi-Finals an easy ride for Oklahoma City, especially in Memphis. In fact, the last time these two teams met on this court, the game went to triple overtime and a contest that started around 9:30pm ended up finishing after 1am the following morning.
Oklahoma City, however, won that game. And following that exhausting win, went on to blow out Memphis in the following matchup by 27 points.
It’s hard to deny that the Oklahoma City Thunder are the more talented team here, with two All-Stars on the squad and one being a top NBA scorer in Kevin Durant. Never the less, the Grizzlies defense has been impeccable in this series, and has been successful in mostly throwing OKC off its offensive rhythm early and often.
As a result of Memphis’ strong defensive effort the Thunder have spent a number of possessions in this series looking for other ways to score than they did all season. This is where all the criticism has come for Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook. He has received a myriad of criticism in this series for not deferring to Durant throughout the game, but especially in late game situations.
If you’re Memphis, this is music to your ears. Unfortunately, it’s Game 6, not Game 5, and in Game 5 the Thunder had all their swagger and then some without a criticism to be found. OKC blew out Memphis in Game 5 spreading the wealth in scoring (4 players in double figures), and Westbrook only took 10 shots for 11 points in 25 minutes on the court. Of course, OKC wants more than that from their All-Star point guard, but the balance is refreshing for Thunder fans and critics.
It’s safe to say, OKC is back. But can they do it in Memphis rather than the friendly confines of their home court? We’ll find out tonight.
Memphis has a different set of issues standing in their way. The aforementioned Game 5 blowout victory saw the Grizzlies score just 72 points and never more than 20 in a quarter.
The Grizzlies current star and third team All-NBA selection, Zach Randolph, had only nine points and took just nine shots in the loss. Marc Gasol led all Memphis scores with 15 points on 6-9 shooting.
The Grizzlies were also just 2-for-8 from three point range, with five of those threes taken by O.J. Mayo (he made one), and the Grizzlies sported just 15 assists the entire contest. So what gives?
Much can be credited to Oklahoma City’s defense. Serge Ibaka had three blocks, and Durant had two. The Grizzlies also had just seven fast break points. Now is a good time to remember that, sure, maybe the OKC front office didn’t have Memphis in mind as a second round matchup when trading up for Kendrick Perkins, another intense big man down low, but they certainly knew they wanted to protect the paint, and Memphis is feeling the effects.
Memphis needs to find their jumpshot, and they have to find a way to get Gasol and Randolph the ball down low effectively. The two things work in tandem, without a long range game The Grizzlies have little chance of strategically outplaying OKC’s defense. Memphis must establish threats both outside and down low to give them a chance to stay alive, while keeping their defense at the level it had been at in the first 4 games of this series.
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