Do the Thunder have what it takes to reach the Finals?
Oklahoma City has the pieces—but do they have the experience to win three playoff series?
The Memphis Grizzlies started hot, stayed hot, cooled off and then pulled away for a 120-106 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the final NBA play-in game.
The Grizzlies built an early 20-10 lead, extended it to 34-14 in the first quarter and were up 66-41 in the second quarter. But the Mavs are pros, too, and in a league where few leads are safe, Dallas trailed 75-68 midway through the third quarter. The Mavs didn’t have enough gas to keep up.
Memphis’ five starters scored in double figures led by Jaren Jackson Jr. (24 points), Ja Morant (22 points) and Desmond Bane (22 points).
The Grizzlies earned the No. 8 seed and will play the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in a Western Conference first-round series starting with Game 1 on Sunday.
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s Grizzlies-Mavericks play-in game:
Ja Morant’s ankle held up just fine
Grizzlies star guard Morant turned his right ankle in the third quarter of Wednesday’s play-in loss to Golden State and was listed as questionable for Friday’s game.
Morant started and scored 12 points in the first quarter including a sky-scraping one-handed putback dunk giving the Grizzlies a 29-14 lead with 4:27 left in the quarter. He also got to the free throw line five times and made all five and had three assists, three rebounds and two steals in the opening quarter.
Morant got his 22 points on 7-for-24 shooting (1-for-5 on 3s) and 7-for-7 on free throws. He added nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
The Mavericks’ future is under the microscope
The faster the Mavericks, who are one season removed from an NBA Finals appearance, can put this season behind them and get further from the Luka Dončić trade the better.
The trade was a public relations disaster and the impact it has had on an angry fanbase will linger, but the best thing for Dallas and Nico Harrison, the team’s embattled general manager/president of basketball operations, is to get to the draft, free agency and the start of next season with a roster as healthy as possible.
Kyrie Irving, who sustained a torn ACL on March 3, won’t be available to start the season, but Anthony Davis, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, Caleb Martin, Dereck Lively II, Max Christie, Jaden Hardy and Naji Marshall should all be ready for training camp in the fall.
It’s clear – obviously so – that Harrison believes Davis can be the key to a championship, and Davis, who was bothered by a right leg issue, was spectacular in Friday’s loss. He finished with 40 points and nine rebounds, and midway through the third quarter, he had 31 of Dallas’ 68 points. It didn’t help that two Dallas starters (Lively and Washington) failed to score.
The Mavs’ front office and coaching staff (and an irked fanbase) want to see how this team performs when and if fully healthy.
Grizzlies face 68-win Thunder in first-round series
The reward for getting the No. 8 seed in the West through the play-in game format? A first-round series against Oklahoma City which set a franchise record with 68 victories.
But the Grizzlies aren’t your typical eighth seed. They won 48 games and are just two seasons from a 51-win season and three seasons from a 56-win season.
With Morant and Jackson plus other players who probably don’t get enough recognition (Bane, Santi Aldama, Scotty Pippen Jr., rookie Zach Edey), the Grizzlies are capable of making this tough on the Thunder. Remember, the Grizzlies were 35-16 and in second place in the West. But can they make it a long series?
It’s also a high-profile job audition for Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo. The Finnish coach took over for Taylor Jenkins who was fired March 28. There is belief around the league that the Grizzlies want Iisalo, 42, to have a good showing so they can give him the full-time job.
