The Memphis Grizzlies are one of the toughest and most defense minded teams in the Western conference and that is one reason why they have the chance to close out the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night on the road while up 3-1 in their best of seven series.
The Grizzlies have been playing extremely well in the playoffs, including defeating the Clippers in six games in the first round and now Memphis has the chance to advance again if they can win on Tuesday on the road in OKC. The Thunder have been a much better home team than a road team this year, but the roster is without Russell Westbrook because of an injury and that has given opponents the opportunity to shut down Kevin Durant by doubling him up and hitting him hard when he tries to drive in the lane.
Westbrook has been out since the second game of the opening series against the Rockets after hitting into Patrick Beverley's hip with his knee and now the team is still trying to recover from that loss. Reggie Jackson and Derek Fisher have gotten extra playing time due to the injury, but so far they have not been able to produce quite like he has and the team has suffered for it, but that doesn't mean they can't pull out the series. Mike Conley and company have played very well, but Durant still can overtake a game and win it on his own, like he did earlier in the playoffs and he will be tasked to do it again this time around.
The Thunder made it all the way to the finals last year where they played the Heat, but this time around they may not even make it out of the second round and one reason was due to the play of Durant late in the game, as he has gone 3 for 17 in the quarter over the past two games plus the overtime period on Monday. Now Durant must step up and play his best to give Oklahoma City a chance to win, but if he can't do it someone else will need to step up and that's where the problem has been with the Thunder.
Durant historically is just 1-3 in elimination games and the Game 4 103-97 loss was a tough blow to the team as they had chances to stay ahead and ended up blowing a 17 point lead in the game. Scott Brooks has his team prepared for the game and the Grizzlies now are making their move as one of the premier franchises, as they could make their first ever conference finals with a win on Wednesday in the game. The grizzlies have won only one postseason series apart from the one they just had against the Clippers and they are looking forward to adding another one if they can on Wednesday and Marc Gasol and Mike Conley are going to do their best to show that.