kingsnation
All-Star
Predict and Discuss.
Playoffs 2013 - West Semis: (1) Thunder vs (5) Grizzlies
- Thread starter kingsnation
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Going with Grizzlies in 7! Andremiller will get his chance to see Ibaka go up against Randolph. Frankly I think Randolph is too big and strong for any post defender, so the key for OKC is to stop penetration from Conley and Bayless as well as preventing easy high-low action with Randolph and Gasol. Perkins vs Gasol/Zbo should also be an interesting matchup
Great game. Looks like the Grizzlies definitely have their work cut out. I know it's no surprise to anyone that I'm rooting for the Thunder (even though I answered Grizzlies in the poll). I would absolutely LOVE to see Kevin Martin and Scotty Brooks get to the finals. 
Great game. Looks like the Grizzlies definitely have their work cut out. I know it's no surprise to anyone that I'm rooting for the Thunder (even though I answered Grizzlies in the poll). I would absolutely LOVE to see Kevin Martin and Scotty Brooks get to the finals.
Boooo!!!!!!! The problem is I don't think OKC can beat Miami. They couldn't when they had Westbrook and Harden and I don't think they can without Westbrook. The only way to beat Miami is to pound them inside. LeBron James and Wade are THE defensive counters to Durant and Westbrook. I would like to see the Spurs go up against Miami. They didn't have a game with all their stars going head to head, though Miami was 2-0 for the season.
On this game: I thought the Grizzlies did a fantastic job but Durant won the game for the Thunder. The Grizzlies need to find a way to get Randolph easier looks, because he was defended very well by OKC, starting with Ibaka and the rest of the team's help D was good as well. Grizzlies need Prince to step up as well.
HereWeBoogie
Hall of Famer
great first game. i still think Memphis wins in 6. Durant cant do it all for a whole series
kingsnation
All-Star
Great win for Memphis and I believe the Thunder are lucky they're not down 2-0. KD is going to have to play the game of his life from here on out for OKC to win the series, IMO.
kingsnation
All-Star
BTW, TNT's play-by-play of the game tonight was inexplicably boring.
K
KingMilz
Guest
What do you get when you get a good skilled PF vs a overrated scrub who can't defend one on one you get Z-Bo vs Scrubaka
Kingster
Hall of Famer
I really like the Grizz, in part because I think they match up pretty well with Miami. My only objection to the Grizz is that I think Gasol doesn't shoot enough. His touch for a big man is extraordinary. They need to get it to him more on pick and pops and tell him to shoot it!
kingsnation
All-Star
The Grizzlies just continue to look better and better. However, I wonder how different the series would be right now with a healthy Westbrook?
Padrino
All-Star
i'm pulling for memphis in this series, because i've always liked their gritty, hard-nosed style of play, but it would be a radically different series if okc had westbrook at their disposal. the grizzlies have done a really good job of forcing kevin durant to take tough shots throughout the series. he certainly hasn't been neutralized, but he's largely been a one-man jump shooting show, and the thunder could really use westbrook's reckless abandon to get into the paint and to the free throw line more consistently...
PurpleHaze
All-Star
Me too. Very tough Memphis D led by all world defender Tony Allen, Mike Conley attacking relentlessly at the point, plus huge trump card of best inside rugged combo in the league. Marc Gasol has emerged as #1 center in NBA without question. His only competition going forward over next few years will probably be our Big Cuz. I like the top four defensive teams in NBA all standing at this point: Memphis, San Antonio, Indiana, and Miami - with Grizz plus Pacers my personal faves.
Padrino
All-Star
indeed. watching allen, a shooting guard, chase durant all over the court is an absolute joy. the guy fights over the top of every screen, and he's able to take some risks by playing the ball and the passing lanes, because he knows his defensively-disciplined teammates will buy him the time to recover. i'd suggest every kings fan pay attention to memphis in this series. though their offense is often shaky, their defense is a masterful display of how to get into the playoffs and how to win in the playoffs. i'm rooting for memphis, but i must admit that, with every win bringing them closer to the nba finals, lionel hollins job is looking safer and safer, despite rumors that memphis' new ownership group may consider another direction at head coach in the offseason. i'd sure love to snag him if they do idiotically decide to let him go...
kingsnation
All-Star
No Westbrook, no problem for Memphis. Grizzlies advance to their first ever Western Conference Finals with 4-1 series win.
Alot of people were off by just a game, but no one predicted this outcome correctly.
Grizzlies await winner of San Antonio/Oakland series.
Alot of people were off by just a game, but no one predicted this outcome correctly.
Grizzlies await winner of San Antonio/Oakland series.
I wonder if there's anyone who would vote differently if they called for a re-cast for COY.
Big Cuz 15
All-Star
grizz over spurs in 6. they got too much down low for san antonio to handle.
Padrino
All-Star
it's a confusing recognition, to be honest. it's not like the MVP award, which typically goes to the best player on one of the best teams in the league. COY has a tendency to go to coaches who accomplish the most with the least. george karl certainly fits that bill, but it also seems like kinduva shallow measuring stick, considering the greatness assumed of other end-of-the-season awards. if i were a voter, i'd evaluate COY based on which team seems to best embody its coach's identity while also achieving a playoff berth. to me, george karl still finishes near the top of a vote with those considerations, but lionel hollins edges him out, in my mind. the grizzlies' gritty, defensive style of play is so forcefully his creation. they traded rudy gay and didn't lose a step. in fact, you might call it addition by subtraction, since gay really wasn't a good fit with a lionel hollins-led team...
i'm so impressed by the way he runs the grizz, by their discipline on the defensive end, and by their sustained commitment to it. they don't go hard on that side of the ball just because they're at the end of a close game, when many weaker defensive teams finally get around to tightening the screws. they do it all game long. they just wear your down, and in a league whose playoffs are dominated by the grandiosity of superstardom, i pull for a team like memphis because they're expert in knocking those superstars down a peg or two...
If it's about who got the most out of the least, you could have made a case for Mike Woodson: took Carmelo Anthony and an AARP chapter to the second seed? Offense is gimmicked to ****, sure, but it worked for 88 games, at least.
jalfa
Starter
and it only stopped working because he went away from what had brought them there. also, they're not unlikely to make the ECF now that Hill might have to miss the series, even though they've abandoned basically everything that had worked for them in the rs and Jr Smith thought it appropriate to hit an insane shooting slump.
Padrino
All-Star
credit the pacers' defense. there's a reason mike woodson's been forced to go away from what worked for his team in the regular season, offensively. and i'm always amazed at the disconnect when fans and the media discuss the playoffs. ya know, "wow, jr smith sure did pick a bad time to hit a shooting slump, didn't he? steph curry, too," as if these events occur within a vacuum, divorced from the reality of the nba playoffs. it's a seven-game series in which your opponent has enormous opportunity to size you up. the pacers took away smith's easy baskets. the spurs took away stephen curry's easy baskets. and, if your team is at a lack for players who can score in the paint, as both the knicks and warriors are, you're gonna have a hard time advancing deep into the playoffs...
again, this is why i prefer slashers and post-up players, because they are more likely to sustain regular season success into the post-season, where defenses ratchet up considerably. i mean, ****, let's look at whose left: memphis finished the regular season 1st in points allowed per game. the pacers finished 2nd. the heat finished fifth. the knicks finished 7th. the spurs finished 11th. none are in the bottom half of the league. it is defense that got these teams into the playoffs, and it is defense that will help them advance (though you're right to point out that the knicks may have caught a break with george hill becoming unavailable for the pacers)...
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