Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET the Oklahoma City Thunder will look to put the Memphis Grizzlies in a tough hole early in their first round series of the Western Conference NBA playoffs. Watch the game on TNT or live stream it free by clicking this link. Thunder fans can hear the radio broadcast on 98.1 WWLS, while Grizzlies fans may do likewise on 92.9 ESPN Memphis.
The Thunder raced past Memphis in the first half of Game 1, feeding off a frenzied OKC crowd and showing the NBA what happens when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are in sync. Then, in the second half, the game changed.
"We got stops," Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph said. "We played our style of basketball. We were getting stops and pushing the ball up and getting back on defense, getting back in transition and slowing down them running off and getting fast breaks."
Memphis won the third quarter 31-13, and although they couldn't pull out a victory, they proved that they're capable of imposing their will on Oklahoma City as well. "It was real important," Randolph said. "We see what we can do. We know what we can do and we've got to come like that at the beginning of the game."
As important as that third quarter was, the first half was equally meaningful. The play of Westbrook in particular was startling, and bodes well for OKC's chances going forward.
"He was running the basketball extremely well, got everybody the ball, and scored the ball at a high rate," Durant said. "He makes it a lot easier for everybody, not just myself. He wreaked havoc on both ends of the floor."
Westbrook finished the game with 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Durant had 33 points, eight rebounds and seven dimes. When those two put up monster numbers, it's tough for any opponent to combat.
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