Spurs vs. Grizzlies: San Antonio is going to the NBA Finals

Parker took it upon himself to personally answer every run the Grizzlies could muster. He was masterful at knifing his way through the Grizzlies’ normally-stout defense and made things difficult on their defenders as he led the way with 37 points, six assists and four rebounds.

The Grizzlies didn’t lose for lack of effort, however.

The story of the game thus far is the dismal shooting by the Grizzlies. Memphis is just 33 percent from the field and 2-for-6 from the three-point line.

The Grizzlies shot a dismal 29 percent in the first quarter and went 0-of-3 from the three-point line. Parker got off to a fast start to lead the Spurs to a 52 percent mark from the field and went 4-of-5 on his own to finish the first frame with eight points and two assists.

After such a demoralizing loss, the Grizzles could fold and go out quietly. But Memphis has shown resiliency in these playoffs before, so expect them to fight until the very end. Let’s take a closer look at three key questions heading into Game 4.

Can the Grizzlies’ defense return to form?

Memphis had arguably the best defense in the NBA all season, allowing a league-best 89.3 points per game. But the Grizzlies’ defense has had some struggles against a high-powered Spurs attack. In Game 1, San Antonio shot 52.9 percent and made 14-of-29 from three. In Game 3, San Antonio shot 50.0 percent from the field.

“We came out with great energy. We got steals,” Hollins said. “We just couldn’t sustain it.”

The Grizzlies now have less than 48 hours to regroup and find the production they got in the second half of Game 2, when the scored 55 points, just two points more than they scored in quarters two, three and four Saturday night.

Though San Antonio scraped by in the first two games to take a commanding 2-0 series lead, the home court shift threatened to serve as an equalizer for Memphis.

Things started to go all sorts of bad for Memphis, as any shred of their early lead evaporated, including basketballs bouncing back into Marc Gasol’s face.

The two-time MVP scored the first five points of overtime for the Spurs and hit Tiago Splitter for a lay up to put San Antonio up eight. He finished the extra frame with seven of his 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Saturday night’s effort comes after Duncan scored six points and made one crucial blocked shot on Marc Gasol in overtime as the Spurs held on for the Game 2 victory.

“Game 4 is Monday night,” Popovich said. “There’s no past, there’s no future.”

Tim Duncan scored seven of his 24 points in overtime -- and found Tiago Splitter for a huge basket -- to help guide the Spurs to the victory. The Spurs started the overtime period shooting 5-of-5 to take an eight-point lead. After Mike Conley, Jr. cut the lead to six with just under two minutes to go, Tony Parker came down, drew the foul on Zach Randolph and then made the basket. His free throw put the Spurs up nine and effectively ended the game.

This was the first game the Spurs got big scoring outputs from their Big 3 of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The three combined for 69 points, with Parker scoring 26 and Manu Ginobili having his best game of the playoffs with 19 points. That output was especially important because the Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Splitter combined for 14 points.

With time starting to wind down well under a minute, the Grizzlies were down a single point. Tony Allen headed to the free throw line with a chance to put Memphis ahead.

But he missed the first free throw. He made the second, tying the game. But regulation ended with the two teams tied. His face says it all.

I have no comment for this. Just perfect.

(Sorry, Marc)

It’s a good thing there’s no real bad blood in this series, otherwise we might have seen some faux-theatrics (coughmiamichicagocough) turned shoving.

The Spurs opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to trim the Memphis lead to single digits in just 90 seconds. The Grizzlies responded and were able to score enough to keep the lead between eight and 11 for much of the quarter. San Antonio was able to just keep chipping away, and found themselves down by just four heading in to halftime. Before the game, Tom Lewis looked at three keys to Game 3. Here’s where they stand so far.

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In Game 2, Memphis was overwhelmed in overtime. But by rallying late to force the OT, the Grizzlies responded well to the playoff pressure of the conference finals to reinforce a belief that they will be ready for the Spurs at home. The Grizzlies won both regular season matchups at the FedEx Forum and with a “We Believe” theme around town, the home crowd should be plenty amped to offer the Grizz additional motivation.

None of this should phase the veteran Spurs though, as they have an opportunity to seize the series and wipe away any hope Memphis maintains. Let’s take a closer look at what is in store for Game 3:

“Everything is fine,” Parker told McDonald. “They (doctors) still see a lot of blood. The size is going down. I feel like I’m turning the corner. I feel like I’ll be fine for Saturday.”

Either the Spurs will seize even more control of the series, or the Grizzlies will begin their battle to get back into the series.

Here, three defenders surround Randolph while he has the ball in the low post.

It’s also worth noting is that the post is clear while the Grizzlies have both Bayless (at the elbow moving off-ball) and Pondexter (planted in the corner) on the floor.

Parker’s performance was truly Rondo-esque, as the Spurs’ point guard struggled to a 6-of-20 shooting night. In the four playoff games that Rondo has managed at least 18 assists, he shot just 35.6 percent from the field. Of course, that should not take away from their brilliance setting up teammates.

After one quarter, it certainly did not look like Parker would be heading toward a career-night in terms of assists. The Spurs’ point guard had two dimes in the quarter as both teams struggled offensively en route to a 15-13 score.

That was nothing compared to the drama to end regulation, however.

The Pondexter dunk is worth another look, as it was a key moment in the game:

All five of the Grizzlies’ first-quarter buckets came in the paint, but they weren’t able to continue the trend in the second quarter, finishing the half with just 12 while allowing the Spurs to score 20 points in the paint. San Antonio blocked nine shots, including two in a sequence with less than 30 seconds left in the half in which Memphis missed seven layup attempts.

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The best players on this Spurs team have been to the NBA Finals on three occasions, winning each time. The Grizzlies are the furthest they’ve ever been in the postseason, a team that’s finally found the right combination behind a group of players that’s had many successes across basketball’s vast landscape.

But a history of winning stands in Memphis’ way, and following a 105-83 beatdown in the first game of the series, their season comes to a breaking point Tuesday.

Those of you who have read prior versions of Prada’s Pictures will remember the concept of acting vs. reacting that I’ve harped on a number of times. In essence: a defense is successful when it shuts off what the offense wants to do before the play begins, forcing it to react and try something different. When a defense becomes the actor rather than the reactor, it is in business.

In particular, their pick and roll plays were beautifully hidden. The Spurs performed a nice trick on a number of them, pretending to set the screen one way, then either declining it or having the screener shift at the last minute to go the other way. Memphis’ big men were caught out of position because they were positioned to shut off what they thought was the initial play, allowing the Spurs to get into the lane and get easy shots.

The Grizzlies climbed back in to within 10 points, but Randolph wasn’t performing any better. The Grizzlies’ leading scorer finished 1-8 with two points. Tony Allen will also see his pocketbook a little lighter, probably, after this maneuver.

In the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies just found themselves blown out of the water. The Spurs shot a blazing 14-29 from three-point range, and that was more than enough to keep the Grizzlies at bay without a helpful Randolph.

The Grizzlies All-Star and leading postseason scorer at 19.7 points per game missed his first seven shots and only saved himself from a scoreless performance by tipping in a missed bucket early in the fourth quarter of the blowout. Randolph finished with two points on 1-for-8 shooting.

San Antonio certainly jostled the Memphis big men in the paint. Randolph didn’t get many touches, and Gasol only got his outside of the paint and in face-up situations. The Spurs picked their poison and let Gasol take contested jump shots, but neither he nor Randolph got easy looks at the rim. Gasol went 7-for-16 for 15 points on Sunday.

A 14-for-29 shooting night from long range gave the Spurs a Game 1 victory in the Western Conference Finals. It didn’t matter that San Antonio’s big men didn’t do much offensively, because Tony Parker set the tone for what became a feeding frenzy for the Spurs’ three-point specialists.

The problems visually appeared as a vacuum when the Grizzlies were sucked into the paint and slow to recover once the ball was shot back out. But it wasn’t only mismatches or rotational troubles. The Grizzlies weren’t communicating with one another. Multiple times, two Memphis players ended up chasing after the ball handler off pick-and-pops, leaving the screen man wide open.

Parker went about his work efficiently, scoring 12 points and recording six assists in the first half en route to 20 points and nine assists on 9-of-14 shooting for the day.

Randolph went scoreless in the first half as the Spurs built a lead by as many as 20 points. San Antonio did its best work in spacing the floor and drawing Memphis’ perimeter defense into the paint on drives.