{"id":15422,"date":"2011-05-15T11:30:53","date_gmt":"2011-05-15T16:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=15422"},"modified":"2011-05-15T11:30:53","modified_gmt":"2011-05-15T16:30:53","slug":"decisive-game-7-memphis-grizzlies-at-oklahoma-city-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/decisive-game-7-memphis-grizzlies-at-oklahoma-city-thunder-15422\/","title":{"rendered":"Decisive Game 7: Memphis Grizzlies At Oklahoma City Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Game 7:\u00a0 Memphis Grizzlies AT Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong>
\nMay 15, 2011 at 3:30 PM EST<\/strong>
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 OKC -6<\/strong>
\nCurrent Line:\u00a0 OKC -6.5<\/strong>
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -300, MEM +250<\/strong>
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -315, MEM +255<\/strong>
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 193<\/strong>
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 191.5<\/strong><\/p>\n

Series Tied 3-3<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Trail
Will Durant steal the show in game 7?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After six games, the winning team has not won by any less than 8 points, and if NBA Oddsmakers are correct, today might not be an exception.\u00a0 The Thunder, who lost game six by 12 points find themselves as 6.5 point favorites tonight in the final decisive game seven.<\/p>\n

Zach Randolph had his first strong game of the series since Game 1, going 12 of 22 from the floor en route to 30 points.\u00a0 He also grabbed 13 rebounds.\u00a0 \u201cWe know what we\u2019re playing for,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cWe know it\u2019s the last game, and we know whoever wins this game goes to the next round, goes to the finals. So, it\u2019s going to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant didn’t fare quite as well.\u00a0 He set his personal worst for playoff points, scoring only 11 points.\u00a0 \u201cIt was tough,\u201d Durant said. \u201cThat\u2019s a part of this league. It\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 \u201cEspecially being one of the main guys, I tend to take a lot of the pressure and put it on myself. But it is what it is. I\u2019ve got to fight through it, I\u2019ve got to continue to be positive around my guys and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant knows if he remains focused he is unlikely to have another game that bad, but it was mostly due to great Memphis defense — not poor play by Durant.\u00a0 Tony Allen and Sam Young, both very undersized to cover the 6’11” Durant, have both done great jobs on him this series, using pesky defense to frustrate the physically gifted Durant.<\/p>\n

Scott Brooks is not worried about Durant having a repeat performance…\u201cI have no concern with Kevin. That guy is a winner,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cI believe in him, I believe in what he\u2019s about and these are the games that everybody dreams about.\u00a0 You don\u2019t get a lot of times you can play a Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lionel Hollins made an adjustment that paid dividends in game 6.\u00a0 With the Thunder “packing the paint,” Hollins found that the offensively challenged Sam Young was not the best answer at shooting guard\/small forward and instead opted to go with sharpshooter O.J. Mayo.\u00a0 Mayo responded by going 6 of 12 from the field and 2 of 4 from three point range while playing 39 minutes (4 of Memphis’ 5 starters played 39+ minutes).\u00a0 For a player that hasn’t been coveted by his team and is expected to sign elsewhere this summer, it was a fortuitous change of events.<\/p>\n

Randolph loved the change.\u00a0 \u201cYou can feel it. You ain\u2019t got nobody in your lap,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cYou can see a little bit, so you definitely felt a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Allen knows what it is like to play in game 7s.\u00a0 In his days with the Celtics, he appeared in 5 games 7s.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you win, you want to be seen everywhere. You like that pat on the back, you like that acknowledgment of you being a winner,\u201d Allen remarked.\u00a0 “You lose, you think about what you could\u2019ve did. That\u2019s the pain of regret. But get the win, that\u2019s the pain of working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

The total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis’ last 9 games and the Grizzlies are 18-6-1 ATS in their last 25 games.\u00a0 The Grizzlies are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games on the road and the total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis’ last 8 games on the road.\u00a0 The total has also gone OVER in 8 of the last 11 games against the Oklahoma City Thunder.\u00a0 Memphis is 7-17-1 ATS on the road in OKC and the total has gone OVER in 8 of the last 9 games on the road in OKC.\u00a0 The Grizzlies are 7-18 SU in their last 25 against the Thunder in OKC.<\/p>\n

OKC is 17-7 SU in their last 24 games and they are 11-2 SU in their last 13 games at home.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER in 8 of OKC’s last 11 games against the Memphis Grizzlies while the Thunder are 18-7 SU in their last 25 home games against the Grizzlies.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER in 8 of OKC’s last 9 games against the Grizziles.<\/p>\n

It’s somewhat strange to see the spread at 6+ points in a game 7.\u00a0 The advantage clearly does go to the home team, the Thunder, but the Grizzlies defense is going to keep the game close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game 7:\u00a0 Memphis Grizzlies AT Oklahoma City Thunder May 15, 2011 at 3:30 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 OKC -6 Current Line:\u00a0 OKC -6.5 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -300, MEM +250 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -315, MEM +255 Opening Total:\u00a0 193 Current Total:\u00a0 191.5 Series Tied 3-3 After six games, the winning team has not won by any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":5491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[3354,399],"class_list":["post-15422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15426,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15422\/revisions\/15426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}