Thunder Adjust to Guarding Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol

In the Thunder's game 1 loss to the Grizzlies, the Thunder had no answers for the Grizzlies frontcourt. Zach Randolph had 34 points and 10 rebounds, while Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 rebounds. After the game, Kevin Durant said, "You've got to make them shoot tough shots." Thunder coach Scott Brooks added, "We have got to do a better job of controlling him and making him miss some shots. It's not going to be easy, and we know that going in... we have to do a better job."

Game 2 was a much different story. Zach Randolph was just 2 of 13 from the field and Marc Gasol was just as bad only shooting 3 of 9 from the field. The 5 combined field goals made from Randolph and Gasol was their lowest all season. In game 1, Randolph and Gasol had 23 points on jump shots. In game 2, the Thunder adjusted by not helping off the big men on driving guards. Although Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley scored 24 points, their offense never got going because of the inefficiency of Randolph and Gasol. In game 1, the Grizzlies had 17 offensive rebounds including 7 from Randolph and Gasol. The Grizzlies didn't grab their first offensive rebound in game 2 until there was only 23 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Grizzlies were held to a playoff low 34 points in the paint as well. 

Serge Ibaka said, "It's a physical game. We just tried to be more focused and more physical and more aggressive, to get contact first. That's what we did."Scott Brooks added, "I thought we did a good job of coming out in the first quarter with the right defensive mindset.  We came out focused on how not to give them [Randolph and Gasol] easy buckets. I thought that set the tone for the game. They [the Grizzlies] scored 17 points in the first quarter, and if I’m not mistaken, they only had four points in the paint and that was an area that we wanted to focus on and make sure we did a better job on. We did that tonight.”

The key to the series will continue to be the interior defense of the Thunder. In games in which Randolph and Gasol have been held to under 10 field goals made the Grizzlies are just 6-11.