Memphis Grizzlies win 101-93 in overtime; take a 2-1 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder - Part 1
On Saturday night, a sell-out crowd at the FedEx Forum witnessed one of the greatest come backs, this post season, as the Memphis Grizzlies took a 2-1 lead over the powerful Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder in the Western Conference
semi-finals series. Having dug themselves a 16-point hole late in the third quarter and trailing by 13 heading into the final frame, Memphis launched a grizzly fight back as they first took the game into overtime and then secured a 101-93 win.
The Memphis team had many big performances on the night, but none shone brighter than star forward Zach Randolph. Randolph had a big double-double, erupting with 21 points and 21 rebounds. Marc Gasol had 16, while Mike Conley and
O.J. Mayo both scored 18 to see Memphis through.
Oklahoma City were led once again by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, they had 22 and 23 points respectively. Durant also pulled down 12 rebounds while Westbrook had the same number of assists. Serge Ibaka also had a good game,
scoring 14 to go along with his 8 boards.
The Grizzlies were down for the count at one point. However, the home team literally took the game by the scruff of its neck down the stretch as they came up trumps and sent the capacity crowd into a frenzy. Memphis head coach
Lionel Hollins was very pleased with his team’s effort, although he did admit that luck played its part in the win,
"We were fortunate to get this win, but that's the playoffs. In order to go further, you always have experience games where you have to do something miraculous in order to win the game. And I thought this was miraculous the way
we fought back after being down 16.''
While on the other side, OKC forward and the league’s scoring champion, Kevin Durant, could not hide his frustration after the loss,
"This is a tough loss," Durant said. "I'm trying to stay positive, but it was tough. This was tough. We were up 13 going into the fourth, had a good roll going. It was tough."
His sentiments were shared by other members of the team, "We controlled that whole game," Thunder guard James Harden said. "We just let one slip away."
When the game got underway, OKC looked to take initiative early on. They scored 5 without a reply at the start and were 7 up with 7:32 to play in the first. In the face of the early Thunder charge, Memphis looked to its bench for
support and they responded. The starters gave way to the subs who scored 12 in the first quarter, including 8 from Mayo, as the Grizzlies overtook OKC to finish the quarter at 22 – 20.
The second quarter however belonged to the Thunder as they outscored Memphis by 10. Thunder went on a 10 – 0 run to that left Memphis trailing by 9 with 5:29 remaining. The Grizzlies tried to cut down the lead but OKC always had
an answer on the offensive end. The first half ended with an 8 point lead for the Thunder at 51 – 43.
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