Grizzlies at Thunder
THE STORY: There is finally a Game 7 in this year’s NBA playoffs and the Memphis Grizzlies are playing in it. Who would have predicted that back in October? The eighth-seeded Grizzlies have a chance to be a surprise entrant in the Western Conference finals if they can stun the host Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Memphis continued its improbable playoff run by rallying for a 95-83 win over the fourth-seeded Thunder in Game 6 on Friday to push the semifinal series to a seventh contest. Oklahoma City routed the Grizzlies when it last hosted them on Wednesday and will be counting on a similar outcome Sunday. If not, there is a real upstart team playing the Dallas Mavericks for the right to go to the NBA Finals.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE THUNDER: Oklahoma City led by 13 points until Shane Battier hit a last-second 3-pointer at the end of the first half for Memphis and it was all downhill from there. The Thunder were outscored 51-29 in the second half, totaling just 14 points in the third quarter and 15 over the final 12 minutes. Equally stunning was that Kevin Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, had just 11 points in his lowest-scoring game of the entire season. Russell Westbrook had 27 points and recorded 11 of Oklahoma City’s 31 field goals. James Harden had 15 points off the bench. The Thunder need better efforts from frontcourt players Kendrick Perkins (six points, seven rebounds), Serge Ibaka (eight points, five rebounds) and Nick Collison (six points, four rebounds) on Sunday.
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES: Memphis won the opener on Oklahoma City’s home court so it’s not like the Grizzlies are facing an unheard of task in winning in front of the Thunder’s raucous home crowd. But the Game 5 showing was so bad – Memphis’ 72 points matched a season low – that it will qualify as a supreme accomplishment if the Grizzlies end up cutting down the nets afterwards. Randolph had 30 points and 13 rebounds in Game 6 for his third 30-point outing of the series and will again be the most pivotal player on the court. O.J. Mayo had 16 points on Friday and Mike Conley had 11 points and 12 assists. Marc Gasol had just eight points for his first single-digit scoring game of a series in which he’s averaging 16.3 points and 10.8 rebounds.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Westbrook is averaging 25.7 points in the series with five games of 20 or more points. Randolph is averaging 23.8 points and 12.7 rebounds with four double-doubles.
KEY STATISTIC: Durant was just 3-for-14 from the field, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range, in a dreadful Game 6 performance.
LAST WORD: “This is where we want to be playing, Game 7, that one game to get to the Western Conference finals. It’s important. I feel good, but the job ain’t done yet. We know it’s going to be tough going to Oklahoma trying to win that game.” – Randolph on Memphis’ chore in trying for a Game 7 victory on the Thunder’s home court.