The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA Playoff history when they managed a 114-108 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3 after trailing by 29 in the first half. Trailing by 26 at halftime, the Thunder cut the deficit to single digits by the start of the fourth quarter before taking the lead late and keeping Memphis from scoring a single point in the final 4:51 of the game.
Just a few minutes before halftime, Luguentz Dort collided with Ja Morant as Morant attempted a dunk, resulting in a nasty fall. His absence affected the Grizzlies in every aspect of the game, and without him, Memphis has the difficult task of trying to avoid a first-round sweep.
The Thunder had plenty of issues in Game 3, mostly in the first half, but their resilience to never back down and keep playing the game was on center stage. Mistakes weren’t nearly as plentiful in the second half, and it still feels like OKC has some work to do yet. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had a less-than-stellar first round, which would be concerning if the team defense wasn’t so impressive, but it would still be nice to see him put together a quality game and close out the Grizzlies as soon as possible.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 2:30 PM CT
Location: FedExForum (Memphis, Tennessee)
Television: TNT, FanDuel Sports Network – Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live tweets and discussion during the game
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Memphis Grizzlies Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Jalen Williams
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Grizzlies
- PG: Scotty Pippen
- SG: Desmond Bane
- SF: Santi Aldama
- PF: Jaren Jackson Jr.
- C: Zach Edey
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng (strained left calf) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left knee surgery) is OUT.
Grizzlies
- Brandon Clarke (strained PCL in right knee) is OUT.
- Luke Kennard (right Achilles soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Ja Morant (hip contusion) is OUT.
- Jaylen Wells (fractured right wrist) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 36-23 against the Grizzlies (21-9 at home, 13-14 on the road) in the regular season and 12-10 in the playoffs (8-5 at home, 4-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the regular season series against the Grizzlies 10 times, lost it 6 times, and tied it once.
- The Thunder went 4-0 against the Grizzlies in the regular season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- The Thunder has won 11 straight against the Grizzlies, including 4 in a row at FedExForum.
- The Thunder leads the Grizzlies 3-0 in the Western Conference Playoffs Round 1 (2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).