The Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies are playing on the NBA playoffs schedule on Thursday night for Game 3 of their series and things are tied up 1-1 and the matchup starts at 8 pm on TNT and streaming live online as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook try to hold back Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol at the FedEx Forum in the postseason.
Durant and the Thunder played a tough game in the matchup on Monday and that went into overtime after some wild plays at the end, including the tip by Kendrick Perkins at the buzzer to send it into an extra period. Durant had an amazing four point play during that time to keep the team alive, as he was able to corral a deflection from Russell Westbrook deep in the corner and as he put up the shot, he was fouled and amazingly the ball went in and it turned out to be a four point play and it kept OKC in the game for the time being.
The second game in the series saw Kevin Durant score 36 points and he was dominant on offense, but the Grizzlies were able to hold back the Thunder in the overtime period and they ended up winning by six points and that was just the eighth loss in the regular season and playoffs combined for the team in OKC at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The series is now even and Memphis plays much better at home than away and they have been one of the best defensive teams in the league this year and they are looking to continue that.
Russell Westbrook took some errant shots down the stretch in overtime and that didn't help things and he led the team with eight assists and he was happy to make it out of Game 2 in the first round, as that is the same game in the series last season when he was lost for the rest of the postseason after a knee injury caused by Patrick Beverley with the Rockets. Zach Randolph led the Grizz with over 20 points and the team also got 12 dimes from Mike Conley and a solid game with eight rebounds from Tony Allen.
Memphis is looking to continue their strong play at home and they have not lost there in 14 games and that could make for a tough matchup on Thursday. The arena can get very loud and that means Durant and Westbrook must step up, or they could suffer a second straight series loss after last year to the Grizzlies.
The schedule for Thursday has three series going that are tied at 1-1, as the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks play Game 3 along with the LA Clippers trying to win against the Golden State Warriors and of course OKC and Memphis. The other series have been good as well and the Clippers rebounded from their loss in the first game and blew out the Warriors, which is basically what happened in the Indy and Hotlanta series as well. Blake Griffin came through big in that game and now the Warriors are hoping they can hold off the Clippers at home, as Golden State plays very well at Oracle Arena.
Check here for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies live stream from TNT online.