Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs at 3:30pm ET on ABC.
The NBA finals are now only one round away, as we have the final four of the best possible conference finals that could’ve happened. Featuring the Miami Heat & Indiana Pacers battling out East, game 1 today see the San Antonio Spurs hosting the Memphis Grizzlies.
Although this isn’t the sexiest match-up fans would’ve wanted to see, the two teams should give us one of the best pure playoff series in quite some time. And what do we mean by “pure”? Simple, both the Spurs and Grizzlies play traditional team basketball with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili following suit from Gregg Popovich; and the best front-court in the NBA of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph always on the same page.
The Spurs finished the season with just only two more wins than Memphis, but that doesn’t mean both teams can’t win on the road. Each of the two teams closed out their last series on the road (San Antonio’s won both series on the road) to advance, which is why home court won’t have that much of an effect to these experienced teams. In 2011 the, the Grizzlies (who were an 8th seed) upset the top seeded Spurs in 6 games, as Zach Randolph averaged nearly 30 points a game for the series.
*UPDATE* Spurs 105 | Grizzlies 83
The Grizzlies however didn’t make it out of the first round last year due to Randolph dealing with an injured leg that hindered his productive play against the Clippers. Memphis avenged their defeat in the first round and sent the defending conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder packing a few days ago without their capo, Russell Westbrook. San Antonio hasn’t won a NBA title since their 2007 sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James, but have made the necessary steps this season to head back to the June.
Duncan and Popvich are undefeated in the NBA Finals together and have the highest winning percentage for a player and coach combo ever with 200 games won spanning over the last 16 seasons. Both teams are obviously built around big men, which should be a grind series that could potentially last the duration of 7 games. In the series, our X-factors for the Spurs are Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili. Splitter will be big in a sense of protecting the paint to let Duncan conserve his energy throughout the game to provide an offensive punch.
Manu isn’t half the player he was 2 years ago, as he’s been averaging less than 12 points a game for the playoffs due to recovering from a strained hamstring. We’re saying Ginobili, because even though Kawhi Leonard’s been the third best player for th team this year, he’s never faced a defensive backcourt in the playoffs like veterans Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen, which could strain his offensive output. Mike Conley’s emerged as a legitimate starting point guard proving he can hang with Chris Paul, as his next task is Tony Parker.
With Allen providing the defensive spark, along with Gasol and Randolph doing their usual dominance, the odd man out is Tayshaun Prince. Prince isn’t the same player he was in his Detroit Piston championship days, but being the fifth option on the team will allow him to be a slasher and spot for a corner trey. Whether he can provide offensive scoring remains to be seen, but he’ll be one of their (if not the biggest) reason the Grizzlies make it to their first ever NBA Finals. Tip-off begins shortly as you should enjoy one of the best series of the year!
Win or Go HOME!