Memphis Grizzlies not done yet; beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in game-6 to keep the series alive – Part 1
On Friday night, the Memphis Grizzlies again found their panache on their home court and extended their Western Conference semi-final series against the Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder into the seventh game. The Grizzlies, who lost by a blowout margin in game-5, staved off elimination with a 95 – 83, win at the FedEx Forum.
Zach Randolph was once again the hero for Memphis. Randolph had been the centre of attention for OKC’s defence ever since his 34 point blitz in game-1 and as such, he had not been able to assert himself since then.
However, all of that changed on Friday night.
With the season on the line, Z-Bo erupted with a game high 30 points and 13 rebounds as he marshalled his team to an all crucial win. O.J. Mayo added 16 for the Grizzlies and Mike Conley had a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.
Thunder were undone by the amazing play of Zach Randolph down the stretch, just like in game-1, and their coach spoke of how hard it is to stop “Z-Bo”,
"He was making jump shots, and he was making contested jump shots," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "He's third-team All-NBA for a reason. That guy is a player, and when he gets it going, you only can do what you can do and that is contest his shot and force him to take tough shots and he made some tough shots tonight."
Russell Westbrook, who dazzled with 27 points on the night, however refused to dwell on the loss and said OKC were already looking forward to the next game, "We got one more game, and we've got to be able to close it out,"
Westbrook however lacked support from his teammates. James Harden did come off the bench to provide 14, but the struggles of Kevin Durant meant that the Grizzlies lacked the offensive impetus throughout the game. The leagues scoring champion couldn’t get into any rhythm tonight as he shot 3-of-14 from the field, including a poor 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. Durant only managed 11 points overall.
The game started evenly and both teams matched each other early on. The scores remained close in the first 8 minutes of the game. Then, with the score at 15 – 15 and 4:05 left on the clock, Memphis went on an 8 – 2 run, ignited by a three from Mayo. However before the quarter was over, OKC cut down the lead to two, the period ending at 21 – 23 to Memphis.
The second quarter belonged to OKC. Just like in the previous game, Oklahoma City bombarded the Grizzlies in the second and opened up a wide gap. Around the middle of the quarter, the Thunder went on a 20 – 7 charge that gave them a 13 point lead, their highest of the game, with 1:03 remaining in the first half. Westbrook was the main catalyst in that run with 7 points and James Harden blew they gap wider with two huge three’s at the end. At the interval, OKC led by 54 – 44.
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