Thunder’s flying start grounds Grizzlies
OKLAHOMA CITY — Mike Miller set his feet and let the ball fly and watched as it dropped true.
Just like that, the Grizzlies were down by a bucket. The crowd packed into Chesapeake Energy Arena sat quiet, stunned.
Could the Grizzlies really pull off this most astonishing of comebacks? Could they come back from 25 down in the first half to win?
Well, no. They couldn’t. But darned if they didn’t give it a go.
The Grizzlies lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, 100-86, to fall behind in their best-ofseven series, 1- 0.
For the key to this one, let’s go to Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger, talking to the media before the game.
“You want to set the tone early,” he said. “You want to set the tone in the first quarter and the first half of the first game.”
What you don’t want to do is come out, look like you’ve never seen the playoffs before, and spot the favored home team 25 points.
The Grizzlies came out floundering. You may pick which perfectly hideous stat you like best:
The Grizzlies started 4 of 24 from the field.
They shot 17 percent in the first quarter, the worst quarter of shooting in franchise playoff history.
At one point, in the second quarter, the Thunder were shooting 55.6 from the field while the Grizzlies were shooting 54.5 percent from the line.
The Grizzlies missed their first 19 shots from outside the paint.
They gave up 21 fastbreak points in the first half alone.
At another point, the Grizzlies had eight baskets and the Thunder had seven blocks.
It was hideousness wrapped in ignominy. The Grizzlies complained that the arena music was too loud. Hasheem Thabeet even checked in to the game, like some giant taunt and/or victory cigar.
Over on Twitter, ESPN loudmouth Skip Bayless decided to ride in and bayonet the wounded: “OKC is going to sweep Memphis. Dallas would have given OKC a much better series. Thunder got lucky.”
At least, the Thunder got Game 2: Monday, at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m., FSTN, TNT Game 3: Thursday, at Memphis, 7 p.m., SportSouth , TNT Game 4: April 26, at Memphis, 8:30 p.m., SportSouth, ESPN * Game 5: April 29, at Oklahoma City, TBD, FSTN * Game 6: May 1, at Memphis, TBD, FSTN * Game 7: May 3, at Oklahoma City, TBA, SportSouth, TNT Radio: All games on WMFS 680-AM/92.9-FM lucky for a half. Because after the break, things could not have been more different. It’s probably just a coincidence that the halftime entertainment was provide by Quick Change.
With Tayshaun Prince
— By the time the Grizzlies convinced themselves that they could be the team that imposed its will along the final steps of the regular season schedule, they were looking up at a climb generally too steep to overcome in playoff basketball.
There wasn’t enough spirit — or shots for that matter — left in the tank to complete a comeback Saturday night against an Oklahoma City Thunder squad that dealt Memphis a heavy-handed reality check in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Intensity and execution at the start is a requirement, not optional. The Griz didn’t have either in the first half, falling behind by 25 points before suffering a 100-86 loss in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Game 2 of the bestof-seven series is Monday in Oklahoma City (7 p.m. FSTN, TNT).
All the Griz can hang on to are the 16 minutes of basketball they played in the same way that earned them a fivegame winning streak to end the regular season, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and the right to face
the No. 2-seeded Thunder.
Memphis dominated the third quarter, outscoring Oklahoma City 31-1 3 in the period, and then carried an elite defensive effort into the f inal frame.
The Griz trailed 7472 after a Mike Miller 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the game.
But the Thunder responded with a 13-1 run to extend their lead back to double digits. Oklahoma City regained its early- game mojo during that span.
The Thunder played faster and with more force from the opening tip. Oklahoma City ran past Memphis at every opportunity.
“For them to get 21 points i n the f i rst half on fast- break points is way, way too many for us,” Griz coach Dave Joerger said. “We’ve got to guard. There’s no doubt about it.”
When asked i f he thought the Griz ran out of gas late in the game, Joerger said: “No question.”
The Grizzlies’ energy waned when they finally got close in the fourth quarter, in part, because the starters were on the f loor for that entire third quarter and much of the fourth.
Joerger decided to ride his main guys — a group t hat forced Oklahoma City to shoot 3 of 16 from the field and commit five turnovers in the third.
“They hit us pretty hard in that third quarter,” Thunder forward Kevin Durant said after tossing in a game-high 33 points.
“We knew we would have to go t hrough something li ke that i n this series. We had to keep f ighting and stay Despite being harassed by Grizzlies defensive stopper Tony Allen, Kevin Durant scored a game-high 33 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
They hit us pretty hard in that third quarter. We knew we would have to go through something like that in this series. We had to keep fighting and stay together and that’s what we did.”
Kevin Durant, Thunder forward
together and that’s what we did.”
The Thunder, however, couldn’t have shown more symmetry i n the f irst half. Their largest lead was 56- 31 before taking a 56- 34 advantage at halftime. The Griz couldn’t do much right, especially when it came to scoring outside the paint.
They were 0 for 18 on shots outside of the paint before James Johnson’s 3-pointer just before halftime. Memphis had 12 f ield goals in the
THUNDER 100, GRIZZLIES 86
MEM
Totals
A—
FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
f irst half. The Griz also had eight shots blocked by the Thunder at that point.