By: Naman "Tiny" Buch
The Memphis Grizzlies have never had much success in the playoffs. People may have forgotten that they did make the playoffs for 3 straight years from 2003-2005. But after mediocrity and the trade of Pau Gasol, Memphis seemed destined to keep on sliding for years, but now have some of the best young talent. Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol make up the starting 5 for this young and talented team. However, after Gay's season ending shoulder injury, the team lost its best offensive option but will attempt to overcome it. On the other side the Spurs have the best record in the West and continue to overcome all the talk that they are too old and past their prime. They have proven that if this is their last run they are going for it and won't let their age slow them down.
Keys for the Grizzlies to win the series
After losing their #1 option in Rudy Gay, who was having a breakout season, they will go to their #2 option who when he wants to be, unstoppable. Zach Randolph is a walking double double and seems like he is ready to prove himself to the NBA after many stops around the league. Randolph will be a matchup problem for Tim Duncan and will look to make Duncan go into foul trouble. If he does what he's capable of he will help Memphis and be a nightmare for the Spurs. Mike Conley, should look to improve on his season and will facilitate and lead the offense . Conley has improved his passing and his apg has improved this year from 5.3 to 6.5 this year. Marc Gasol should look to go to work in the post with Anthony McDyess guarding him. Gasol should look to help out on the rebounding end and needs to finish in the post. If he gets McDyess into foul trouble expect the Spurs to have an incredibly difficult time handling the Memphis bigs. OJ Mayo needs to actually give a crap like he really hasn't this season. With Gay, gone Mayo needs to step up and hit some big shots and be like the offensive player people expected him to be when he entered the NBA. One of the players who hasn't given a crap this season at all and is expected to be a lock-down defender on Manu is Tony Allen. Even though Allen is "a Celtic who is unfortunately wearing a Grizzlies jersey" doesn't have that mindset anymore with the Grizzlies anymore and should help the Grizzlies defense.
Keys for the Spurs to win the series
The Spurs have 3 veterans who are keys for them and have been for a long time. Tony Parker is still contributing and proving that his divorce earlier in the year had no affect on his game. Parker led the Spurs in scoring with 17.5 ppg and dished out 6.6 apg. Parker I believe will exploit his matchup against young Mike Conley and make him work hard to defend. Even though Manu Ginobili sprained his elbow recently, I don't expect him to be out for long. If anything, I expect Ginobili to be out for Game 1 but should not miss the rest of the series. Ginobili has hit big shot after big shot and will continue to be in my opinion San Antonio's most dangerous shooter. Of course you can't mention the Spurs without mentioning their go to guy it seems like in all the big situations Tim Duncan. Duncan's stats have been the lowest ever. But it doesn't matter to him as long as they win and it looks like it could be the Spurs season. The Spurs have had a reviving of Richard Jefferson and provide another option if Ginobili isn't healthy. The Spurs have always in my opinion been very good at drafting and picking up steals and once again did it again by signing Gary Neal who was un-drafted! George Hill will look to run the offense when Parker needs rest and along with Neal, is an important part of the Spurs bench. A big part of the Spurs has been 2nd year player DeJuan Blair off the bench who wasn't expected to be much in the NBA but is proving everyone wrong and will be a big spark off the bench when Duncan needs rest and is a rebounding machine with 8 boards off the bench.
The Spurs with a veteran team and a veteran coach should be able to fend off Memphis. However, I believe Memphis will not give up that easy and will finally win a playoff game after being 0-12 in 3 previous series. Memphis will look to use their youth to tire the veteran Spurs team and bring hope and energetic fans to the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
Prediction: Spurs in 6 games
Rating: 3.5/5 (Some games will be more exciting than others, but if the Spurs control the ball, should be a slow half court series)
Game 1: Sunday April 17 Memphis @ San Antonio 1:00 PM EST TNT
Seize the day people.
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