Last season the Memphis Grizzlies gave Oklahoma City all it could handle in the Western Conference semifinals. This time around the Grizz might want to duck as the Thunder rolls onto Beale Street.
OKC became the first NBA team to win three games in as many days on Sunday when Kevin Durant finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, leading the Thunder in a 108-96 victory over the Spurs.
James Harden netted 20 points off the bench, while fellow reserve Nick Collison had 12 points and 10 boards for Oklahoma City, which started the weekend with a home-and-home sweep of Houston.
Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Sacramento and the Lakers all failed in their attempts to win back-to-back-back games before the talented Thunder turned the trick.
"I knew our guys were going to compete and they were going to give everything they had for the three games," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "You were hoping that you could win them all."
About the only bad news for the Thunder recently was the loss of backup point guard Eric Maynor to a torn ACL. Russell Westbrook's caddy suffered the injury on Saturday and rookie Reggie Jackson stepped in nicely against San Antonio with career highs of 11 points and four assists.
Memphis, which is opening up a four-game homestand tonight, continues to struggle a bit without All-Star forward Zach Randolph, and dropped its second straight contest to the Lakers, 90-82, on Sunday.
Rudy Gay paced the Grizzlies in that one with 19 points and newly-acquired Marreese Speights added 17 points and seven rebounds for Memphis, which was without Randolph for a fourth consecutive game and finished 1-2 on a three- game road trip. Marc Gasol, playing against big brother Pau, was a miserable 0-for-9 from the field and scored just two points.
Memphis has not scored over 90 points or shot better than 42 percent since losing Randolph to a knee injury.
"We don't have one of our best post-up players," coach Lionel Hollins said. "You know we are fishing in who we can go with."
The Grizz will also host New York, New Orleans and Chicago on their current residency.
The Thunder stopped a three-game, regular season skid in Memphis by topping the Grizzlies back on Dec. 28 despite Westbrook's 2-for-16 shooting performance, the worst of his career.
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