Thunder Vs. Grizzlies, Game 6: Memphis Forces Game 7 With 95-83 Win

The Thunder avoided long, tricky contracts, and refusing to make a huge trade or free agency splash before the team was ripe. Sitting on cap space in 2009 despite real designs on the 2010 playoffs, Oklahoma City exuded patience and a comfort with the team’s own skin. The path was being laid out, it was obviously lined with gold, and there was not hurry.

But Memphis found its luck elsewhere, and has shown that there’s another way: a bizarre, terrifying, Russian roulette method to building a winner. It might not be replicable, it might not be legal in all 50 states. But it’s something to behold, and to cherish, so long as we have these Grizzlies in our lives.

Randolph scored 20 points in the second half, pushing his total to 30 for the game, as the Grizzlies outscored the Thunder over the final 24 minutes, 51-29. It was as if a different team emerged from the locker room in the third quarter and it showed on the scoreline. And Randolph played a large role, dominating the paint and the glass, adding a game-high 13 rebounds to go with his 30 points.

The Grizzlies and Thunder take the court for Game 7 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City.

Stay tuned to this StoryStream for updates. And for more on these teams, check out SB Nation’s Thunder blog, Welcome To Loud City, and our Grizzlies blog, Straight Outta Vancouver.

The Memphis Grizzlies took momentum into the locker room at the half after Shane Battier drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Oklahoma City Thunder’s lead to 10 points, 54-44. And in the third quarter, the momentum carried over as the Grizzlies came roaring back to take a four-point lead into the fourth quarter, 72-68.

Zach Randolph continued to fire in the third, scoring eight points to push his total to 18 for the game. O.J. Mayo is also in double-figures with 12 points. Tony Allen has nine, Marc Gasol has eight and Tony Allen has seven points, thus far.

Oklahoma City leads the best-of-seven series, 3-2, and is just 24 minutes from closing the Grizzlies out to earn a berth in the West Conference finals. The Dallas Mavericks await the winner of the Thunder-Grizzlies series after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the week.

Stay tuned to this StoryStream for updates. And for more on these teams, check out SB Nation’s Thunder blog, Welcome To Loud City, and our Grizzlies blog, Straight Outta Vancouver.

There’s a bit of confusion taking place in Memphis on Friday night. We’re at the end of a quarter in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and according to most sources, the Thunder and Grizzlies are tied, 23-23.

I say “most sources” so as to exclude the folks on the ESPN broadcast. Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and company are sticking with the account of their stats man, who insisted that the score was 23-21.

Each day, we are going to preview the night’s NBA Playoffs action by looking at the adjustments that can be made by the losing team and showing what they can do to win.

During the regular season, Randolph was more effective in the post on the left block, scoring 0.898 PPP on 44.4 percent as compared to the 0.870 on 42 percent on the left block. However, that didn’t stop the Grizzlies from giving him most of his post touches (4 of 6) on the right block. The reason why Randolph is ineffective on the right block is because of the fact that he is a lefty and when he faces up to shoot a jumper on the right side, he is bringing the basketball back to the defense: