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Grizzlies continue to surprise

Different team, same story. Zach Randolf and Marc Gasol were unstoppable and the defense did a good job of not letting Durant and Westbrook go off. Teams that win the first game in a seven game series win the series 80% of the time. I don't think its that likely that Memphis will win this series. But this is a great start.

A couple of good points were made by commentators after the game. The Griz only shot 8 three pointers and still scored over 110 points. That means they were extremely efficient with their shots. Part of that is getting turnovers which provided easy buckets. The other part is Randolf and Gasol just being on and hitting a ton of shots. I suspect the Thunder won't turn the ball over so much on Tuesday. So game 2 should be closer.

The other point was that Randolf was defended by one person. You can certainly take your chances that Randolf won't go off every game, just like we have to do with Durant. But at some point it might be good strategy to double team him and force another player to make a shot, specifically an outside shot. Same goes for the Griz defending Durant and Westbrook. I would rather make them take mid range shots and three pointers than layups and free throws.

For now I'll be happy that we took a game in OC and that at worst we won't get swept. On Tuesday I hope we just have a shot late in the game.

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