Saturday night featured two more Game 3s in the NBA Playoffs. But unlike the home teams on Friday, the host squads yesterday had no problem defending their home court advantage. Here’s a recap of the offensively-challenged action on Saturday.
Grizzlies win defensive struggle over Thunder, 87-81
The game wasn’t pretty, but you can bet that doesn’t matter all that much to Memphis after their 87-81 Game 3 win over Oklahoma City. With the win, the Grizzlies held onto their home court advantage and took a 2-1 lead in the series.
Both teams had serious trouble scoring in this one. Memphis shot only 40.5% and Oklahoma City checked in at 36.4% on the night. Both also shot under 30% from three-point range, combining for an ugly 9-32 display.
The Thunder’s go to player, Kevin Durant, finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, but had a fourth quarter to forget. He made only one of his four shots and also missed two free throws with under a minute to play that could have cut the Grizzlies’ lead to two. The bigger problem for me, though, is that he only got four attempts in that final period. Without Russell Westbrook, Durant needs to be the guy taking the bulk of the shots in a close game.
Memphis had several contributors, but leading the way was Marc Gasol, who had 20 points and nine boards. More importantly, he made some big plays down the stretch. 16 of his 20 points came in the second half and Gasol helped seal the win with some late points. With the Grizzlies up only two and under three minutes to play, Gasol scored a key basket. With a minute left and the score tied, Gasol drew a foul and promptly made both free throws to seal the victory. Mike Conley added four more free throws to provide the final margin.
If there was any question as to how valuable Westbrook is to the team’s offense, that should disappear with Oklahoma City’s struggles in the series against Memphis. The Thunder averaged nearly 106 points heading into the playoffs, but are scoring fewer than 90 in the second round. Oklahoma City will need to find a bit more scoring if they want to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
The Grizzlies will host Game 4 on Monday.
Indiana takes 2-1 lead over New York with 82-71 victory
The Indiana Pacers fought past a big game by Carmelo Anthony and the return of star Amar’e Stoudemire for an 82-71 win at home on Saturday.
Anthony had 21 points and five rebounds and the Knicks also got Stoudemire back on the court after a two-month absence due to a knee injury. Stoudemire played only nine minutes and will likely have a strict limit the rest of the way as he slowly works his way back into the rotation. He added seven points and two rebounds, though, and could play a role the rest of the series.
Both teams struggled to score as each made only 35% of their shots – but Indiana got a bit more. Center Roy Hibbert was the star with 24 points and 12 rebounds, and he got help from George Hill, who added 17 points. David West had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds and Paul George also filled up the box score with 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and a game-high five steals.
The Pacers were fortunate that their opponent struggled as much as they did shooting the ball. One reason for Indiana’s woes? The team hoisted up a whopping 33 three-point attempts, but failed to connect on most of them, making only ten. Paul George led the way in terms of futility shooting only 2-12 from long range.
But as it has so many times this season, the Pacers’ rebounding effort helped win the game. Indiana racked up 53 boards to New York’s 40. The Pacers also had nearly twice as many offensive rebounds as the Knicks and that helped them to nine more shot attempts in the contest.
Try as they could, New York never could get close in the fourth quarter. The Knicks cut the Pacers’ lead to eight with about nine minutes left, but after an Indiana 7-0 run pushed the lead to 15, New York couldn’t get back in contention.
Game 4 will be in Indiana on Tuesday night.
