Who Has Advantage in OKC Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies 2nd Round Game?

The Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder have two things in keeping. Their first-round opponents were both taken down by them in six games, and they both did so in extraordinary fashion. The Thunder removed James Harden and the Houston Rockets, 103-94, and Lob City was taken down by the Grizzlies, 118-105. After these two characteristics the parallels between your two teams end. That means absolutely nothing now that Russell Westbrook is seeing activities in place of dominating them, even though the Grizzlies own the summer season series, 2-1, on the Thunder. Without Westbrook, Kevin Durant is left while the lone star in Oklahoma City. Sure, he's encouraging members like Serge Ibaka, Kevin Martin and Derek Fisher, nevertheless when the rubber meets the road, Durant is their main man. The Grizzlies, on one other hand, certainly are a "star power by committee" kind of team. They can defeat you in the color with their twin towers, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, or on the perimeter with Mike Conley and Tony Allen they can burn off you. Both are technically small-market teams, nevertheless you might claim that the Thunder have significantly more star energy with Durant running the show. In his three games without Westbrook, Durant is calculating 35.3 details, 10 rebounds and 5.3 helps per game, while shooting 55.4 percent from the subject. The sole difficulty is that Durant put up that creation playing from the Rockets, who occur to give up the 28th-most points per game by having an average of 102.5 points per game. While Francisco Garcia covered him like a umbrella for a majority of the games, a whole other monster will be met by Durant when he rises against Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince. In addition to the individual defense the Grizzlies will place at Durant, Memphis also plays much, much better group defense compared to the Rockets, this means the Thunder will not be getting as numerous available border jumpers while they did against James Harden and his defense-less team. I'm not saying that the Thunder are not a better team compared to the Grizzlies, since even without Westbrook they have enough ability to compete with them. The difference, however, is that rather than Durant battling against an individual person, he'll undoubtedly be battling against an entire team because the Grizzlies play team basketball as well as anyone in the NBA. While their series was closed out by both teams, there's no doubt that the Grizzlies have a little more momentum after winning four straight games to top the Clippers. Planing a trip to a raucous OKC audience will surely reduce that momentum, but because the Grizzlies showed they are able to win on the road. Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka are not a poor frontcourt by any stretch of the imagination, but when you stack them against the kind of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph they don't even examine. Having an important benefit in the color will gain the Grizzlies emensly on both sides of the ball, and it will enable them to control the speed of the sport and slow the Thunder's move offense down. Yet another key advantage the Grizzlies have within the Thunder is their power to get via well-balanced production. Just take Game 6 against the Clippers like. The Grizzlies had seven of the eight people in double digitsa'Mike Conley (23), Zach Randolph (23), Tony Allen (19), Jerryd Bayless (18), Tayshaun Prince (11), Marc Gasol (10) and Quincy Pondexter (10). The Grizzlies could beat you from anywhere on the ground, and without Westbrook, the Thunder don't have that luxury. As opposed to wanting to balance their generation, the Thunder are forced to get Durant the ball and let him build his teammates with transmission and crime for himself. Is he capable of dominating the Grizzlies and losing 40-plus points? Truly, but the problem then becomes who on the Thunder will probably hold the rest of the duty. With the Grizzlies you will find seven or eight people who can add substantial production. While people like Kevin Martin and Reggie Jackson emerged in Game 6 for the Thunder, it'll not be nearly as easy to score playing from the team that gives up the points per game, having an average of just 89.3 points. You've undoubtedly heard the rule "defense wins championships." Well, it is true, and in this case it actually seems appropriate like thisa'"defense wins second-round playoff series." Using their momentum from a principal four-game stretch against the Clippers, the Grizzlies are in the driver seat against the Thunder. They've all of the push and they're maybe not suffering from any injuries. In addition to that, the Grizzlies are a team that loves to play real baseball, and as the Thunder may bang with the best of these, they are not necessarily developed to play that way. Men like Tony Allen, Zach Randolph and Keyon Dooling will get under their skin and irritate the Thunder. That is where we'll see just what kind of head Kevin Durant truly is. The Thunder and Durant have much more to lose in this series, and that puts them at a disadvantage when the series tips about Sunday. Like they say in tennisa'"advantage, Memphis."

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