NBA playoff schedule 2013: Heat rout Bulls, Grizzlies edge Thunder

Where does Durant go from here? Wherever his long, lonely walk takes him.

With the victory, the Grizzlies now have a commanding lead as the series shifts back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 Wednesday night. Memphis’ players insist they’re not looking ahead towards a potential trip to the Western Conference Finals.

“I know our guys are focused,” starting point guard Mike Conley said following a 24-point effort Monday night. “We’re taking it one game at a time.”

Tom Ziller has already written about why it’d be foolish to blame Kevin Durant for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 3-1 deficit in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Without Russell Westbrook, Durant has effectively shouldered a massive load with a supporting cast that hasn’t come through. That the Thunder are even in this series -- all four games have gone down to the wire -- is a testament to Durant.

Now, it is true that Durant shot 2-14 down the stretch Monday as the Grizzlies came away with an overtime win. Most people are smart enough to cut Durant some slack for that poor shooting, but some people will likely look at the box score and conclude that Durant came up short when his team needed him most.

The appetizer was disgusting but the entree was brilliant, as Monday night’s two Conference Semifinal matchups featured one hideous snoozer and one thrilling matchup that deserves a replay. In case you didn’t get a chance to watch, here’s a recap of what happened in a pair of Game 4s that saw two squads take big 3-1 leads.

Oklahoma City now leads 3-1 as the series shifts back to their home.

Literally, in fact. Well, licking his paws at least. He is a Grizzly.

UPDATE: The looped version, which is even better.

Shaquille O’Neal is the master of ruining TNT halftime shows. It just gets really weird whenever he decides to do something. Here’s his Birdman impression, I guess?

There is nothing I love more than these awesome dogs that perform at halftime of NBA games. If I ran an NBA team, I’d hire the dogs to perform at every timeout. Just dogs doing flips all the time.

Kevin Zimmerman asked three questions about the game. Here are some early answers:

To their credit, the Thunder have taken the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year out of his element in the first half of Game 4. Gasol, who averaged over 21 points per game in the first three match-ups of this series, has nine points, but on just 3-of-8 shooting in the first half.

This wasn’t reminiscent of any of the first three games in this series. One was a Bulls win. One was a hard-fought loss. One was a blowout, but the Bulls still managed to dish out some licks, exert their physicality, and generally show that the scoreline didn’t indicate the fight.

It just wasn’t there for the Bulls on Monday. The drive to win against outrageous odds, the fight, the friendly rolls, the luck, the gutsy performances from random role players -- nothing. A massive regression to the mean seemed likely for a Bulls squad that had been outperforming expectations game after game, but it was still brutal to watch in real time. The team shot 25.7 percent, just 2-for-17 from three, and turned the ball over 17 times against 19 field goals made. Their 65 points on the night was their lowest in franchise playoff history.

This pretty much sums up the Bulls’ night.

Kevin Zimmerman asked three questions about the game - here’s some early answers.

The Bulls tried to let him, but it didn’t really follow through. Boozer wasn’t overwhelmingly aggressive, and missed two of his first nine shots, more commonly your typical Carlos Boozer high-arcer over a defender than bullheaded drives to the hoop.

Ibaka’s confidence is so shaken from the perimeter that he’s passing up wide-open jumpers:

While Ibaka’s jumper has been awful, he’s still shooting 67 percent at the rim and has shown he can be effective for the Thunder is in the low post. The Grizzlies are aggressively helping on Durant with their frontcourt, which opens the restricted area for Ibaka. When he cuts to the rim, like he does here, the Thunder benefit from having Ibaka on the floor:

Suddenly the Bulls are on their heels despite being the bigger bully in this series -- no pun intended. Here are three questions that must be asked heading into Monday’s Game 4 in the United Center. The answers will lend evidence to whether the Bulls can tie the series or if the Heat will be looking at a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Keeping the Miami freight train from gaining steam has been done in Games 1 and 3, but in Game 2 the Heat got chugging along and there was no stopping them. While it’s not a sure bet Chicago can pull out fourth-quarter games against Miami, their forte is winning strings of defensive possessions whereas Miami’s is in putting down backbreaking runs before playing defense in the final five minutes of the game. The Heat aren’t bad at all under such pressures, but the Bulls can’t have it all. A little luck is needed, and to get it, they’ll need to keep their eyes out for Miami roundhouse kicks. Controlling the tempo is key.