Grizzlies throw the first punch, beat the Thunder 114-101

ryuzaki786 :...I liked the Thunder better last year because their defensive schemes were top-notch.

Yea, they were better last year. I believe they lost one of their top assistant coaches that helped with the defensive schemes. Like I said many times, Scott Brooks need to step it up!

A lot of you guys are talking about offense, but the Thunder will get its' points, instead of finding ways to create scoring, the team will have to adjust and become more defensive-minded. Durant and Westbrook can give you an easy 50 average and 65 on a good night, Serge/Harden need to combine for at the very least 20-25 pts a night, while the other contribute as they can.

The rest is just defense and pure defense, I liked the Thunder better last year because their defensive schemes were top-notch. They would only allow a certain amount of pts on the board and well, they didn't have Perkins/Ibaka (not as good as he is now). Westbrook needs to stop Conley because that's where the offense starts for the Grizzlies.

And either Mohammed or Perkins will have to stop Gasol or at the very least make him ineffective. You can't have Gasol going for 20 pts a night with Randolph scoring 34 pts. Memphis is great at forcing turnovers and they pretty much caught Westbrook/Durant with their pants down.

Yo, all jokes aside, I believe beating the Griz starts with Scott Brooks. I'm interested to see if he has the brass too take a young team to the next level. He has done a fantastic job with this club no doubt, but clearly Hollins has owned him in the coaches matchup this year, taking 4 out 5. Sometimes a team has your number, and sometimes a team executes better when the play you. Both have been true in the case when the Griz and Thunder do battle. I have faith and respect for Scotty Brooks, but he needs to show me something Tuesday night. (i.e.. More ball movement, better defensive scheme, and substitution patterns...etc..etc..)Every team has a nemesis. The Bulls had Detroit. The Griz are on to something with us and Brooks has not made the adjustments yet. When he finally does, I believe we will be ok because of the talent and heart of this team; but sometimes a coach needs to be on his "A" game and so far he has folded with Memphis. Time will tell. I have faith. Thunderup!

@grizzfan
Thanks for the well wishes. It's nice to have opposing fans not be jerks. Yes, I'm looking at you, Nuggets fans.

The Grizz have been great on paper for quite some time, and it's really cool to watch them finally make it happen on the court. I just wish they would stop playing so well for the next, oh I don't know, four games?

Good Luck! If Thunder don't make it through, I'll be pulling for the Grizz.

Hey Guys, Promise I'm not here to start trouble. The infamous "rip move" and the Conley jumping into Durant are plays I hate. Unfortunately they get called everytime. There is nothing worse as a fan to see than that garbage. The worst offender of both of those is Kevin Martin of the Rockets, he must have done that to us a couple dozen times this year. Those are both calls I wish that would be changed to not reward the player initiating the contact.

As for the officiating I thought it was pretty fair. The Thunder shot 32 FT and the Grizz 28. Grizz were whistled for 23 fouls and the Thunder for 25. I dont think the officials had any impact on the outcome. The Thunder are a great team, which I root for when they arent playing the Grizz because I root for the small markets like Memphis. If you are like me I am so tired of hearing about the Lakers, Celtics and Heat. Thunder or Grizz to win it all is what I am hoping for. Looking forward to a graet series.

I would also like to give props to your crowd, they were loud and into it.
Good Luck!!!!

@AllHeartGritGrind
thats the famous rip move. It gets called every game for lots of players, durant is just the best at it so he gets it alot more than anyone else in the NBA i would venture to guess. Its something defenders have to be careful on with him or he will get free shots every time.

james1 :

They have a built in bias against Russ because he’s out of control half the time. Different refs also call a tap on the wrist (or even what looks like a tap on the wrist) n the low post, or when KD left his feet and Conley jumped in to him on that shot at the top of the key (which shouldn’t have been a foul)

I agree that foul on Durant vs. Conley was iffy, but not anymore than when Randolph was whistled for a foul on the wing when he had his arm outstretched, standing still and Durant intentionally swung his arms to the side, into ZBo's and then flailed up like it was a shot. Never seen that before and was shocked it was considered a shooting foul (unless he was shooting at an imaginary basket behind the scorer's table). Announcers said that it is actually something Durant does a lot. Is that true? I dont watch enough Thunder bball to know.

Bryan :@james1There was actually a perfect example late in the game. Russ went up for a nice drive and layup and drew contact when someone adjusted over laterally and left their feet. No call.
KD got the rebound, drew exactly the same contact on the way up, and got the call. Not cool.

I agree. Yesterday just wasn't our day. Didn't get calls, didn't get bounces and didn't play with energy. It was bad all around.

@james1
There was actually a perfect example late in the game. Russ went up for a nice drive and layup and drew contact when someone adjusted over laterally and left their feet. No call.

KD got the rebound, drew exactly the same contact on the way up, and got the call. Not cool.

Whoa.... I somehow deleted a whole section from that comment before posting it... sorry. Just trying to say we need to get Harden more involved and get Thabo off the floor when he is not needed (which against the Grizz is never).

On offense, KD is just going to have to carry more of the load. I wouldn't mind changing up the rotation some by doing what Chicago does with Derrick Rose. They take him out really early, then bring him when the opposition begins to rest its starters.

You either deal with it or adjust your rotations to account Grizz sans Rudy Gay. We need to stretch the floor better. Perkins and Thabo together is hard on the offense when playing a smart team like the Grizz.

Bryan :@james1The officiating was pretty disappointing. It seemed like they were letting a lot of things go (something that never favors the Thunder’s style of play) but then they would throw in some really ticky-tacky stuff. Hard to get into a rhythm when they call a game that way. And RW and KD are both rhythm players.

They have a built in bias against Russ because he's out of control half the time. Different refs also call a tap on the wrist (or even what looks like a tap on the wrist) n the low post, or when KD left his feet and Conley jumped in to him on that shot at the top of the key (which shouldn't have been a foul), but they absolutely won't call a slap on the wrist on a drive that leads to a TO. Harden, Westbrook and KD all got raped a couple times but they didn't call hardly any of them. Different refs have different "go to" calls. It just seemed yesterday that we got the short end of those calls a lot of the time.

They have got to figure out a way to force the two bigs to foul our bigs but Perkins isn't going to do that (the way he stopped playing once Marc had a hold of is arm was just odd. Refs don't respond to that well and he should have just gone up with the ball right then. I don't think his antagonistic style towards the refs helps him at all and it worries me). Ibaka isn't going to force any fouls either since he almost strictly a pick and pop guy now. How I miss watching his low post game grow but that will have to wait till next year. I guess the only other way is for Durant to drive the hoop and get them in trouble because I don't think the refs are responding to Westy well, either. This is the biggest worry to me just in front of Marc taking WIDE open 15 footers and not being able to get a defensive rebound.

@james1
The officiating was pretty disappointing. It seemed like they were letting a lot of things go (something that never favors the Thunder's style of play) but then they would throw in some really ticky-tacky stuff. Hard to get into a rhythm when they call a game that way. And RW and KD are both rhythm players.

@Bryan
I think Ibaka will get better and better at blocking shots throughout the series as he gets the timing down with individual players after a game or two, which is scary. If it were me I would keep playing the bigs one on one for now and stay out on shooters and with the cutters except every few possessions quickly double down and try to surprise the big with the ball in the post. I don't know what to do on offense...

We have to make them beat us from the perimeter. The entry passes were about as easy as it gets. Especially off the pick and roll. That was horrible all day long. No adsjustments at all. Coaches got their butts kicked as much as the players.

Anyone think Stern would let us borrow Dwight Howard for the remainder of the playoffs?

justin :I didn’t think Ibaka did that bad on Randolph, Randolph made a lot of very tough shots over him.

I agree. He played him pretty well for the most part. If he's going to hit those fall away 18 footers there's nothing you can do about it. He got some really weak fouls late in the game that shouldn't have been fouls.

@justin
Agreed. Randolph is going to get his points. Ibaka did a reasonable job. Ibaka can contain the dribble and contest Randolph's mid-range jumper. Problem is, (and this goes for the times he guarded Gasol as well), if you can get into his chest, Ibaka can't get up and get the block.... and Randolph does that well.

@Grolgar

Agree with your sentiment. Just wanted to point out Westbrook's funk goes a little farther back than people realize.

@walker
I honestly don't think the Thunder really stunk it up. We all know they can play better than they did Sunday. But Memphis is legit. I watched them frustrate San Antonio at every turn. And honestly, I don't know if the Thunder have the balance they need on offense to make it past the Grizz.

I don't often get discouraged. And I know it's only one game. But this is just how Memphis plays.

I didn't think Ibaka did that bad on Randolph, Randolph made a lot of very tough shots over him.

@DavyTheWise
As soon as I saw the Noon Sunday schedule, I knew we were screwed. I really had a bad feeling about that game. I don't think the Thunder has ever won a Sunday nooner.

I think we have a better game 2.We wasn't ready to play,thinking that noway Memphis beats Spurs in 5.They came to play because their coach demands it or you ssit beside him.We should be focused for next game right now,not tomorrow at 8pm.Harden looked real unsure of himself in game 1.RW got to play his game and quit thinking about what people say.He was an all-star playing out of control 80per of the time.Don't try to change it now that's offseason shit.

I know I'm way late to this discussion and probably only minutes from having boltz come up, but I just want to say that OKC obviously has its hands full.

From what I saw of the Memphis/San Antonio series, The Grizzlies play is kind of par for the course. They just make smart basketball plays. They make the extra pass with that inside out game and make you pay if you help off your man. And there isn't really anyone you can just leave unguarded.

On the other end, they shoot the passing lanes and do a go job of stopping the ball.

I hate to admit it, but they might be the better team. Or at least the better coached team. I'm sure Brooks will make some adjustments, but it's going to be a real dog fight.

In the thunder's defense (or to their demise, depending on how you look at it), they have played very poorly on sundays this year...

@Brian
I'm with you man, something needs to be addressed ASAP if they are going to not get destroyed in this series, but maybe it will be healthy if they do (yeah i said it).

I'm not wanting it to happen by any means, but if it means we get better in the long run and address the balance of Defense with Offense, we could still get better again next year. This status quo won't be satisfying half way through next season.

I remain optimistic about this series, but Brooks is def up against his biggest task to date, down 1-0 to the (admittedly great team) 8 seed and with the home team looking a little defeated.

Sammy :I disagree with the Collison/Perk lineup being a poor one. Our defensive game plan was clearly to single cover Z-bo, and Z-bo was destroying Ibaka. I thought Collison actually played Z-Bo really well; Z-Bo happened to make some absurd high arcing fadeaways, but you can live with those. Collison played Z-Bo much closer to the chest than Ibaka had been doing.

Collison can't cover Gasol 1 on 1. He just flips it over him. He dominated him on the boards too.

Nick Collison comes in at 4:11 mark. Right after he came in KD hit a 2 to get Memphis lead down to 4.

3:38 Marc Gasol Offensive rebound/tip shot
2:02 Marc Gasol def. rebound
1:16 Marc Gasol 2 point shot
:51 Marc Gasol defensive rebound
:25 Marc Gasol Def rebound
:02 Marc Gasol jumper
84-71 half time
11:33 of 4th Marc Gasol 19 foot jumper
10:33 Marc Gasol def rebound
91-74 10:14 Daequan Cook enters game for Nick Collison

5:30 minute stretch Gasol has 8 points and 5 rebounds and lead grows from 4 to 17.

:

What pains me so much about the offense becoming an issue now it has been a FUNDAMENTAL FLAW all this time (it was obvious in the Laker's series, Nuggett's series).

Anyone (with basketball knowledge) watching the Thunder struggle to score for long periods of time knew their was "something" wrong that these periods of poor offense could not be solved by better "defense."

And caveat of periods of poor offense leads to vicious cycle of poor defense as well.

KD and WB are not gods if you think of them as two batteries with limited amount of energy to devote to every game, do you really think that the pair can score 72 points in a game and still have enough energy to give lock down defense every play?

You remember all those times where Russ is arguing a call or picking himself up after being flattened, not drawing a foul or get called on a charge.
He is not being lazy or being bad by not getting back.
Its just his energy is already FOCUSED and emotionally devoted on scoring because he HAS TOO.

TRADE NOTE:
One of reasons Boston was willing to give up Perkins was when he and Rondo where on the floor teams where doubling off both of them because Perkins could not finish and Rondo has a history of not shooting well.

The only way that trade works long term is to balance the line up to have 4 other scoring threats. (ex. KD, RW, JH, SI-Must score consistently, KP)

its kinda shocking its worked as well as it has with only TWO.
Kevin and Russell are some pretty amazing players.

Celtics fans are KILLING Jeff Green today, and rightfully so. So glad that guy isn't on our team anymore.

@AllHeartGritGrind
I will tell you right now that coming into this series i was cheering for memphis to win, not because i thought they were an easier match-up but just for home court. I said, "if we could have the spurs with HC advantage, i would rather face them." I think, here on this board anyways, there has always been a strong respect/fear of memphis cause ZR and MG, and Tony Allen for that matter have been ripping us all year.

We get underestimated a lot by the national media too, so most of us who can use logic and reason (ie most on this board) are pretty good at minimizing our homerisms.

It is however true that the thunder have done really well at adjusting throughout the year (only lost twice in a row a few times, less than 7ish), and they are committed to being great, so don't expect them to roll over either.

@Twistdov

As has been said, Westbrook's play was not the primary problem. Could he play better yes? But he also kept the game from getting completely out of hand in the 1st half. More importantly, we need to get offensive rebounds, create turnovers, take care of the ball, and get Harden more involved. We were terrible in all those areas and Those we can easily correct these things. That is reasonable. Do those and we'll win game 2. I can deal with Westbrook's play.

I felt like they were just hitting everything. When Randolph hit that three in the first half, it felt like all the air came out of the cometition. the Grizz were clearly just going to nail everything we gave them, and it didn't stop the whole game. I give them all the credit for that, cause i never really felt like we were being soft on defense (thats not to say adjustments don't need to be made). Our offense just feels stagnant, Westbrook's gotta keep playing his game and being aggressive, and anyone not named Westbrook or KD needs to find a way to get the ball in the hoop (a la collison's sweet spin-moves). Maynor had a rough game. And above all we've got to rebound better.

shiki :
We need harden to be starter in this series.Play him to control the ball and Russ to do more off-ball move maybe can help us offense.And it can make our best 3 offense player share ball better.I cannot believe Harden only get 5 shots in this game.It was unfair to his talent.

I like this idea as well, even just as an experiment. sometimes when nothing you do works, its time to try something else. even for 3 min. I often feel like when JH gets a rebound or an outlet pass he is hesitant to pass to russ because he knows (/feels like) he won't get the ball back in his hands

Westbrook has been in a mental funk since late in the 3rd game of the Denver series. In that game -- a Thunder win -- he was acting strange in the 4th and sortof refused to celebrate with his teammates after the win. He's been in the funk ever since. His confidence is gone, he's trying to force things (rehashed ad nauseum, I know) and he doesn't even attempt 3's anymore.

Whatever the problem is, I hope he gets it figured out because we aren't advancing without him at 100%!

@AllHeartGritGrind

Oh, and you can love your team, and even engage in talks on this board, that's fine. Thanks for not being a troll and saying stuff like, "See I told you we owned the Thunder or Z-bo > Durant, etc."

@AllHeartGritGrind

No one is sleeping on the Grizz anymore. Trust me. The optimistic ones are saying Thunder in 7, but many of us, at least to ourselves, are thinking, "Man this series is over." Game 2 is a must win

Someone on the Animal made a valid point yesterday. RW has not had a triple double since Jeff Green left. Now I am not one that thinks this team must have Jeff Green, but without a valid offensive threat in the starting lineup, I am afraid we have seen the last of RW's triple doubles of even double digit assist nights

Hey Thunder fans, let me start by saying this is not to start some sort of battle of words or "my team is better than your team" trash talk. I love my Grizz like you guys obviously love your Thunder and I just like to read as much about the playoffs as possible, so I have been keeping tabs on this blog, among other sites. Don't be so quick to dismiss game 1 as an aberration where we played our best game and you guys played your worst. Nationally, folks dismissed the Spurs series as a young athletic Grizz team taking advantage of an old, over-the-hill Spurs team. Before the OKC/Mem series started, the media (and many of your comments) were boldly underestimating the Grizz as well, saying the Grizz "would be no match for the star talent and athleticism OKC brings to the table," or "the Nuggets were a better team than the Grizz, so we shouldnt have any problems with them." If you watched the Spurs series, you saw that the Spurs didnt roll over and play dead. They gave us their best punch and fell short. You saw firsthand on Sunday what we are capable of, and this series is going to be very exciting for both teams and all fans. Nene is not Randolph, and saying you handled him so you should be able to handle Randolph is short-sighted at best. Just be careful with spewing blind confidence in statements like "Thunder in 5 games." Most of you see now that if you sleep on the Grizz, we will make you pay for it.

From the Tulsa World:

"This Memphis squad certainly is not a typical eight seed. the grizzlies might just be the better team.

This seems to be the new truth: If OKC finds a way to win this series, it would be an upset."

I can't disagree. But hopefully changes can be made to provide that upset!

@Sammy

It's so discouraging. I've never been high on Westbrook's defense, but he was stellar in games 1 thru 3 of the Denver series. It really got my hopes up.

I want us to go SF, scoring big man in the draft. Now I think we need to get a PG to challenge Russell. Sorry okcbaby, but Maynor is too small and can't play D

They want play that good every game.We came out flat,didn rebound turned the ball over to much.we need to keep another shooter on the floor at all times because they are clogn the lane up,and RW gotta start looking for other people besides KD.Harden and Cook been open the entire season but he doesn't pass to them for some reason.We need to get Gasol in foul trouble,stop settling for jumpers and take the punishment at the rim.I think he could get away with playing Nate on Conley.

@Brian I know they are cheating over to cover the paint it's obvious, teams haven't done it all season though. I saw Denver doing a lot in the last couple games in the series and it works against us because like you said our whole offense is based around kd and Russ creating and driving. But I can't help to think that a wide open perk under the basket isn't better then Russ trying to create something through basically a double team. Also who else thinks zbo isn't strong enough or athletic enough to handle ibaka in the post? I know it could result in a few turnovers but he has moves down there and zbo can't jump so any jump shot will be an open look for ibaka and I think it will keep Memphis more honest and not allow them to cheat as much.

We need harden to be starter in this series.Play him to control the ball and Russ to do more off-ball move maybe can help us offense.And it can make our best 3 offense player share ball better.I cannot believe Harden only get 5 shots in this game.It was unfair to his talent.

Seriously, watch Russ in the above linked video I just posted. Watching him literally jogging around that screen then throw his hands up, presumably in frustration at his teammates for not 'properly' giving help, makes me want to punch him in the face.

I love Russ, but we can't win the series with this kind of effort on the pick and roll.

One thing, though: Westbrook's defense is infinitely more worrisome to me than his offense. Conley got Westbrook on his hip multiple times on the PnR, forcing Perk to hedge the screen far longer than was optimal, since it left the screener (Marc Gasol, usually) undefended. What the hell is Ibaka supposed to do then? Leave Z-Bo?
Example: http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/05/02/quick-hitter-grizzlies-use-zach-randolph-to-clear-the-lane/

I disagree with the Collison/Perk lineup being a poor one. Our defensive game plan was clearly to single cover Z-bo, and Z-bo was destroying Ibaka. I thought Collison actually played Z-Bo really well; Z-Bo happened to make some absurd high arcing fadeaways, but you can live with those. Collison played Z-Bo much closer to the chest than Ibaka had been doing.

In any case, I don't think this game is at all indicative of how the rest of the games will go this series. Remember Nene's line from game 1 in the Denver series? OKC played a deeply flawed game today and that's obviously unfortunate. But in terms of things to take away going forward? Nothing we didn't already know. We just need to execute better. We are still the better team. We will not take this lying down.

@Chris88 and anyone else who thinks this Memphis loss is a fluke should be aware that...
Memphis as it is currently playing exposes poor offensive execution because its lifeblood is turnovers.

One of the key problems we had with Memphis last night has existed long before this years Playoffs, long before trade, long before we won 50 games the year before ---
We have no offensive scheme

Or another way to put it our offensive is ---
Give the ball to Kevin and Russell and hope they can win another one for us.

How a coaching staff can even make it through 82 games and 6 playoff games and ignore the facts below?!!

1. 5 players on defense is good but only 2 (1/2 Ibaka is too inconsistent) on OFFENSE is bad
2. Russ would gladly share the ball but has been put in a dark corner with few options.
Durant is usually blanketed by defenders and there are others open but
If he passes to Thabo, Thabo has to be cutting to the basket or he bricks the 3 (Thabo's confidence seems to be very low right now)
If he passes to Perkins, Perkins cannot finish or turns it over frequently
If he passes to Ibaka, he turns it over, irratically hits a shot.
He drive to the basket and hope for a foul call, an open durant or a good shot for himself frequently getting a charge
I believe Russ's development is stagnating as he feels he has to call his own number in order to help his team (not because he is selfish at ALL!)
We BADLY need a post up big man...
3. The lack of a solid scheme and good balance means when our defense gets a TURNOVER,REBOUNDS or a STOP we frequently waste those possessions.
WE MUST VALUE EVERY POSSESSION!
4. When the Thunder's offense plays bad (as it does for it seems at least one QUARTER every game) our guys get emotionally and mentally drained.
When we play frustrated, our defense suffers which puts even more pressure on our offense to score.
5. Rotations, schemes, game plans must be flexible. If player is X is beating player Y by doing Z data needs to be gathered and adjustments made.
(Don't be predictable. The Thunder sadly are SOOO predictable.)

@Chris88
Teams are starting to figure out our vanilla offense and learning to frustrate our tired defense.

It too simple really. Put Perkin's and Thabo's man in the paint shaded to Durant or Westbrook and either cover Ibaka or take a risk and have a third defender play free safety (unless Ibaka gets hot, he will turn it over frequently).

Honestly, I have wondered from the very first day the new starting lineup was announced how it possibly work?!

justin :
BTW, our starting lineup is now officially in the negative for point differential for the post season, so on average we’re losing for the 10-16 minutes we have the starters on the court.

Yep, anyone who has been watching our play lately should have seen that unless KD gets on fire our bench scores better then our starters.
How can this be?
because KD and Westbrook are expending all their energy trying to score because Perkins, Thabo, Ibaka aren't. and the bench usually plays as a TEAM.

Please Coaches wake up!
"The offense will" [NOT] "take care of itself."

Hello true thunder fans...after watching the playoff game today I was already skeptical about afternoon games because we dont come out with as much focus for some reason and we played as such but i think the biggest issue was the lack of offense from harden and the use of thabo, thabo is a great defender but in this series who is he guarding what is the purpose of him being out there its not like he shutting down rudy gay or something. tony allen and sam young are out there any one of our perimeter player can do a descent job on those two i think that our best bet would be to go small in the back court and play a combo of eric maynor at point and rw off the ball...russ could guard tony allen and EM could guard conley...once mayo comes in the game u could put harden or thabo on him, to me mayo and battier are x factors on the offensive end like today they just kept hitting timely shots even tho the stats might show that they werent really a factor but i think otherwise...and on the offensive end with em and rw in the back court it would cut from turnovers and allow russ to slash with out the ball to the hoop opening the pick and pops for nick, nazr and serge...also with EM running the point it'll slow our half court offense down just a tad to get better shots at the rim and we could always still push because russ is still out there...what do yall think?

It just concerns me because honestly I think the last 2 games of the Denver series were bad games also. Except for durants heroics. I think our teams success starts with a mindset change for Westbrook. He has to realize 1 the refs aren't giving him very many calls anymore for whatever reason 2 that unless he starts finding other teammates besides durant they are going to cheat off perk all day long and make it nearly impossible for him to get to the paint and create something. If you watch there is almost always 2 guys, arms out, blocking Russ from the paint. Normally with perk behind them waving his arms.