No Westbrook for the west's number 1 seed. They had to fight hard against the 8 seed, with 2 losses and 2 wins by 3pts each. The Grizzlies are the tough guys, just won 4 straight to take down Flop City but any time is a tough time against Number 2 aka Kevin Durant. Who ya got?
The Grizzlies are such beasts on defense that they should be able to throw a helluva lot at Durant, yet still be able to properly rotate and contain the other guys. I expect a whole lot of traps and double teams on those isolations and pick-n-rolls KD runs. I'll say Grizz in 5. Oh and finally, a series where Brooks won't get criticised for playing Perkins. He finally has a reason!!!
wow I'm still vacillating between the two, but imo the grizz don't have that advantage downlow against the thunder that they had against the clipps. ibaka is an agile defender you can put on randolph and perkins and gasol have similar levels of agility. x-factor for memphis will be conley imo, cause he has the easiest matchup. the grizz can throw allen and prince at durant and try to wear him down. x-factor for okc will be k-mart
I honestly dont know how to call this series. Will take memphis in 7. Like mixedballa said, the Grizz have thrived off of their low post dominance of the Clippers. Thunder pose quite a challenge for Z-bo and Gasol, but I think their D will be the xfactor in this series.
Oklahoma City in six. Durant will have a tough time against a very good Memphis defense but much like the New York-Indiana matchup, I feel the Thunder are just far too good. Grizzlies should win a couple of games here but I don't think they have the offensive firepower to match it with OKC.
Unless the rest of the Thunder players step up and actually provide some help for KD I don't see this going Oklahoma's way. If the whole Thunder squad actually show up, this should be a really good series however.
Lol at people thinking Z-Bo will be slowed down by Ibaka. When they met 2 years ago in the playoffs Randolph ate him alive. Ibaka's agility is useless against Randolph, Randolph won't have him use his agility, he'll have him using strength, and Zbo will win in strength 10 times out of 10. And I doubt Perk can guard Gasol too, because Gasol even has the skillset to take him out of the pain, where Perk is useless.
Agreed. Ibaka isn't stopping Z-bo and Perkins is good at stopping bruisers who just back you down but struggles with guys who have touch around the rim like Gasol.
Well my first round prediction was against Memphis so I won't make the same mistake...Who will score for Thunder besides Durant? Kevin Martin? I don't think so, you look at Martin strengths at shooting 3's and getting to the foul line, well it's going to come tough against this elite Memphis D in a playoff series. Reggie Jackson? Played well in the first round but this is a completely different defense he'll be facing. Not having a guy like Westbrook that can create shots for himself will eventually be exposed in the series. I'll say Grizz in 6 games.
A part of me wanted to say Memphis sweep, but we'll see how this goes. There will be tons of pressure on Durant.
im expecting a whole lot of this. And Tayshaun vs Durant is also a battle I'm really looking forward to.
I will take Grizz in 6. Think there will be too much defense for OKC to handle Conley > Jackson Allen > Thabo/Martin Prince/Allen < KD Zbo > Ibaka Gasol > Perkins MEMPHIS > OKC
with 2 of the best denfenders in the game Gasol and Allen with Grizz being one of the best defenses in the League with no Westbrook I see OKC struggling on offense unless Kevin Martin steps up his performance like he did in GM7 for this series but i dont see Martin being consistent so I got Memphis in 6
inb4 phamous comes here and continues to spew shit out of his mouth about Durant not being clutch. ~Venom
