Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs continues on Monday and we will see Memphis Grizzlies travel to Chesapeake Energy Arena to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in game 2 of their best-of-seven series. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Vegas odds have the Thunder listed as 7 point favorites, while the total sits at 189.5.
Stat Packs: Three out of 4 roads teams won on the opening day of the playoffs, but one those teams was not the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis fell down huge in the first half of game 1, before making a furious comeback in the 2nd half. They at one point cut the lead to 2 points before Oklahoma City pulled away again, winning by 14. Memphis comes in ranked 27th in the league in scoring, as they have average just 96.1 ppg, but they are a good shooting team as they have hit 46.4% from the field, which is 7th in the league. Not a very good FT shooting team as they hit just 74.1% from the line, which is 23rd in the league. Zach Randolph (17.4 ppg) and Mike Conely (17.2) lead the team in scoring, while Randolph also leads the team in rebounding (10.1 ppg). Marc Gasol (14.6 ppg) and Courtney Lee (11.0 ppg) round out the double digit scorers on the team. Tayshaun Prince played just four minutes in the opener due to a stomach virus and hopes to play in Game 2. Defensively this is a very solid team that ranks 3rd in the league in points allowed (94.6 ppg) and 9th in defensive FG% (45.0%).
Oklahoma City was the only home team to win on Saturday and have now gone 35-7 at home on the year. The Thunder are now completely healthy and they showed what they can do when fully motivated in the first half of game one. This is a dangerous team. OKC comes in as a strong offensive team that ranks 5th in scoring (106.1 ppg) and 6th in shooting (47.1%). The Thunder are led by potential player of the year in Kevin Durant, who comes in averaging 32.9 ppg. Russell Westbrook has missed time this year, but when healthy he is the engine that makes this team go. Russell has played just 46 games this year and has averaged 21.8 ppg and 6.9 apg. Serge Ibaka is 3rd on the team in scoring (15.1 ppg), while leading them in rebounding (8.8 rpg). The Thunder also know how to play some defense as they have allowed just 99.7 ppg (12th) on 43.6% shooting (3rd). The Thunder blocked 10 shots in Game 1, led by four from F Serge Ibaka.
Pick: Im going with the Under in this one. Game one put up just 186 points and I expect this one to be a bit lower scoring. but I do expect this one to be a it higher scoring. Game 2s of a series tend to be a bit lower scoring than game 1s as the coaches will make adjustments and usually on the defensive end of the floor. Memphis allowed just 93.3 ppg in the road this year, but gave up 100 points in the opener and you can bet that they will have a bit more defensive intensity in this one, just like the 3rd quarter in game 1, in which they allowed just 13 point. Memphis is more than capable of playing defense like that for the whole game. OKC does play defense as well as they allow just 98.2 ppg on 43.9% shooting on their home floor and Memphis has scored just 93.4 ppg on the road this year. The Under is 6-1 in OKC's last 7 Conference Quarterfinal games, While the Under is 20-7 in Memphis' last 27 road games. I look for both trends to continue as this one is played around 182 at best.
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NBA 1st Round Playoff Preview
Pregame.com's Ken Thomson & Marco D'Angelo preview each series in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs.