The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies have played a tough series in the Western Conference finals on the opposite side of the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers in the East, as the Spurs stormed out to a 3-0 series lead before playing Game 4 against the Grizzlies in Memphis and getting a victory to sweep into the NBA Finals to win the series 4-0 after a huge game from Tony Parker.
The Spurs have been looking like the San Antonio of old and center Tim Duncan has been playing as well as he has in years as the team looks like it is ready to take on the Miami Heat in the NBA finals next round. The Spurs have done an excellent job in the playoffs and swept out the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round in four games before defeating the Golden State Warriors in six and now the team is getting ready to move on after going up 3-0. The Grizzlies had to fight history to have any chance at moving on as no team has ever come back from a 3-0 lead and the team suffered another tough defeat in overtime in Game 3 on Saturday night.
The Spurs played an excellent Game 2 in overtime as the team defeated Memphis 93-89 after Tim Duncan led the way in the extra period. The Spurs completely dominated the first half of the game after outscoring the Grizzlies in both quarters, but in the second half it was all Grizzlies, but after forcing overtime it wasn't enough to win the game. Memphis was able to storm back in the second half by outscoring the Spurs 33-30 in the third and 21-9 in the fourth, including a huge run at the end. Tim Duncan led the team with 17 points and the 18 assists from Tony Parker were too much for the Grizzlies to handle, while Zach Randolph did his part with 18 rebounds in the game after scoring just two points in the first game.
The Spurs and Grizzlies played another tight game in Game 3 that also went into overtime that saw the Spurs dominate once again in the extra period after outscoring the Grizzlies 18-7. The Grizzlies opened up to a huge lead in the first quarter after outscoring the Spurs 29-13, but the Spurs immediately came back in the second after jumping back 27-15 heading into halftime. The Spurs were able to stay ahead the rest of the way after outscoring the Grizzlies in the third 24-21 before doing it again 22-21 in the fourth, but the team was able to force overtime. The Spurs were able to pull out the game and take a 3-0 lead after 26 points from Tony Parker and 11 rebounds from Kawhi Leonard, while Mike Conley added 20 points. Zach Randolph had another solid game with 15 rebounds while Marc Gasol had five assists, but it wasn't enough to win.
The Miami Heat look poised to win against the Indiana Pacers after taking a 2-1 lead in the series with a 114-96 victory in Game 3, as LeBron James led the way with 22 points and Dwyane Wade added eight assists. Banger Chris Andersen has been excellent for the Heat after leading with nine rebounds, while David West led the Pacers with 21 points and Roy Hibbert had 20 points and 17 rebounds. Paul George made a number of excellent plays during the game and led the team with eight assists. The Heat have finally been able to win in Indiana after losing two games during the regular season and once in the playoffs and now the Pacers are 6-1 at home in the postseason, while the Heat were able to remain ahead by dominating and outscoring the Pacers in every quarter, including 36-26 in the second for their best quarter performance of the playoffs.