Thunder at Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are pulling themselves out of a lengthy funk and will get to see how they stack up against a Western Conference power when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. The Thunder are playing the second night of a back-to-back and don’t expect to have Kevin Durant (hamstring) back for the contest.
The Grizzlies looked awful at times during a stretch of five losses in six games but snapped a four-game slide with a last-second win over Portland on Friday and backed it up with a 114-106 triumph at Minnesota on Sunday. “Just sticking with it. Just staying aggressive,” Memphis guard Mike Conley told reporters. “Obviously we’ve had guys who have been in some slumps, and as a group collectively we haven’t shot the ball well.” Oklahoma City was not shooting the ball particularly well on Sunday and ended up shooting 36.4 percent from the field in a 100-85 home loss against Boston. The setback snapped a three-game winning streak as Russell Westbrook had some trouble carrying the team by himself.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Oklahoma, FSN Southeast (Memphis)
ABOUT THE THUNDER (6-4): Westbrook posted a pair of triple-doubles in the first two games without Durant, including a career-high 17 rebounds on Friday against Philadelphia, but battled early foul trouble against Boston. The star guard ended up with 27 points but went 5-of-20 from the field and posted his lowest assists total (five) of the season while dipping to four rebounds. Durant told reporters his hamstring was feeling “way better,” but he is expected to sit out at least two more games.
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (5-6): Memphis entered Sunday last in the NBA in field-goal percentage (40.1) but shot 56.3 percent in Sunday’s win. “We’ve been in this league a long time and we’ve made our names with what we do,” Conley said. “We just have to stay aggressive, stay confident and tonight we finally saw them go in.” Conley went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc in the win after hitting just 6-of-31 in the previous seven contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Grizzlies G Mario Chalmers is averaging 13.5 points in 19 minutes off the bench in two games since joining the team.
2. Oklahoma City G Dion Waiters is 7-of-24 from the field over the last two games.
3. Memphis took three of the four meetings last season, including both home games by a total of 19 points.