The San Antonio Spurs will host the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals Game One on Sunday. The Spurs clinched a spot in the finals with a 92-84 win on Thursday over the Golden State Warriors. Two Tony Parker three-pointers in the last two minutes were the daggers that sent the Warriors to the golf courses of Northern California for the summer. Parker is not known s a great three point shooter but he stepped up at clutch time and knocked them down.
Ironically, the Warriors had two threes rim out in between Parker’s two that really magnified their importance. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, both known as deadly three point shooters each had one go half-way down and rim out in the last two minutes. So now the Spurs move on to face the Grizzlies in the conference finals.
The Grizzlies advanced after eliminating the Russell Westbrook deprived Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook was injured in the first round series against the Houston Rockets and was unable to go in the Grizzlies series. Without him, the Thunder were not the same team on offense as Kevin Durant could not carry the team past the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies front court of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph owned the paint.
Randolph and Gasol vs Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter should be a good battle throughout this series as will Tony Parker vs Mike Conley. Conley is becoming a star point guard in front of the whole world in these playoffs. He played Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers to a stand still in the opening round series and dominated the Thunder without Westbrook in there.
Conley played one year of college ball at Ohio State the same year as Greg Oden. Both came out after their freshman year after leading the Buckeyes to the Final Four. Most people thought Oden was the guy from that team that would become a star in the NBA. Conley was mostly overlooked. Now it looks as if Conley is the star as Oden’s career has been derailed by multiple injuries.
These two teams met in the playoffs two years ago and the Grizzlies upset the top-seeded Spurs. There will be no overlooking the Grizzlies this time. Many feel the Grizzlies are the favorites this time around, even though the odds-makers have made the Spurs a slight favorite.
We see this series going the full seven games. Anything could happen in the course of a seven game series, but we like the Spurs to win Game Seven on their home floor. The Spurs will be playing in their eighth Western Conference Finals since Tim Duncan joined the team. The Grizzlies have no been this far before. Experience at this stage is a huge advantage.
Therefore we like the Spurs in seven.