Oklahoma City Thunder rout the Memphis Grizzlies 99-72; Take a 3-2 lead in the series – Part 1
The Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder won the game-5 of their Western Conference semi-final series against the Memphis Grizzlies here at the Oklahoma City Arena. Having played a triple overtime thriller, just 44 hours earlier, OKC never looked in trouble on Wednesday night as they routed the Grizzlies with a 99-72 margin.
Kevin Durant had game high 19 points, but surprisingly Russell Westbrook did not get the second highest on the night. OKC substitute Daequan Cook came off the bench to pile on 18 points for them. It was a night of shared scoring for the Thunder as four players got into double figures, while three more missed out by just a point.
The Memphis team lacked almost everything. They had no bite, no effort and no fight in them. Only one player crossed the 10 point mark for Memphis and that was Centre Marc Gasol. He had 15 and 5 boards. Even Grizzlies talisman and one of the best performers this post-season, Zach Randolph, struggled with just 9 points and 7 rebounds.
There were suggestions that game-4 had drained the players and fatigue played a big part in the loss, however Gasol said afterwards, "Fatigue wasn't as much an issue as effort when we got down we gave up too easily."
Grizzlies’ coach Lionel Hollins said the team lacked both energy and effort in the loss, "We were physically down and we were mentally down but we're not making any excuses. Our starters were running in mud for a while out there in the second quarter and it was Katy bar the door after that."
Scott Brooks, the Thunder coach, gave a lot of court time to his reserves to offset any symptoms of tiredness. He stated that his team also played in the triple overtime game at the FedEx Forum, but they were up for the game, "NBA players have the hearts of champions, I don't know if fatigue was a factor for them but it wasn't on our end."
The first quarter gave no indication of what was to come as both teams played well, cancelling each other out. Memphis actually started better, scoring 6 points without reply to take an early lead. They were leading by six with just under three minutes left, when OKC made a 9 – 3 run to close the quarter and draw the scores at 17 each.
The second period saw both teams scoring more regularly. They traded shots and the scores remained very close, the lead changing hands 7 times. However all that changed, when Serge Ibaka put one in with 4:41 remaining. His shot ignited a 16 – 0 charge by the Thunder, leaving the Grizzlies behind by double digits. The run and the first half ended with the score at 46 – 35.
Tags: