OKLAHOMA CITY — With each forced turnover, transition score and offensive rebound, the Oklahoma City Thunder seemed to snatch any hope the Memphis Grizzlies had of turning the tide in Game 2.
The margin of error is small against the No. 1 team in the NBA, and the Grizzlies are making too many mistakes to win.
Turnovers hurt them again in a 118-99 loss to the Thunder at Paycom Center on April 22. OKC now leads the best-of-seven first-round playoff series 2-0. Memphis will get its next opportunity against the Thunder on April 24 in what can be considered a must-win game (8:30 p.m. CT, TNT/FanDuel Sports Network).
Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo didn’t have a long breakdown or meeting with the team after the Game 2 loss. For him, the message was short and simple.
“They took care of their business; now it’s time for us to take care of our business at home,” he said.
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Home sweet home
Memphis went 26-15 at home with a 7.3 net rating this season. On the road, that net rating dropped to 2.1, with a 22-19 record.
The Grizzlies lost by an average of 15 points in two regular-season home games against OKC. That number jumped to 22.5 in two road games. And they just dropped 70 points to the Thunder in the two playoff games combined.
The FedExForum crowd in the play-in game against the Dallas Mavericks was electric, and Grizzlies players are hoping to feed off that against OKC.
“Just defend home court,” Scotty Pippen Jr. said. “At the end of the day, we still got to have some pride in that.”
Turnovers remain an issue
The good news for Memphis is that in Game 2, it decreased its turnover number by nine from Game 1. The bad news: OKC took advantage of those turnovers in the same manner.
The Thunder finished the game with a 25-6 advantage in points off turnovers. Considering how much Memphis is emphasizing taking care of the ball, that issue almost feels like one that isn’t correctable. Turnovers plagued the Grizzlies in all four regular-season matchups with OKC — all of them losses.
“It’s not only the turnovers; it’s the overall possessions game that we are losing,” Iisalo said. “We have had issues offensive rebounding in this series, and they have almost a 30% offensive rebounding rate. This is causing way too much pressure on our shot quality.”
Found the formula?
Memphis trailed 32-17 after the first quarter of Game 2. If you take that quarter away, the Thunder outscored the Grizzlies 86-82 for the remainder of the game.
The third quarter specifically was the best period Memphis has had in the series. An ultra-aggressive Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 13 of his team-high 26 points then, and Memphis outscored OKC 27-20.
In the second quarter, Memphis was outscored by three, but it put up 35 points.
Iisalo believes that his star players have now figured out ways to score against Oklahoma City, and he’s hoping that opens up chances for the others. When those chances come, Pippen believes the key for Memphis is not hesitating.
“They’re such a good defensive team,” Pippen said. “When we try to pass and move it around too much, it leads to them recovering and us taking tougher shots. It’s just taking those first shots that we get and being confident in knocking those shots down.”
Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at [email protected]. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.
