The Grizzlies bandwagon are still open because Memphis just keeps making believers out of everyone, and they are as good as advertised, with another game 1 win over a higher touted opponent in the Oklahoma City Thunder. Zach Randolph has been playing out of his mind and in Kevin Durant’s description, he could quite possibly be the best power forward in the league right now, combining a good skill set of Charles Oakley’s rebounding skills and his own dynamic scoring ability, he may not be the giftest athlete in the world but he more than makes up for it with his hustle, good positioning and footwork.
The rest of the Grizzlies are a solid bunch, they got good defenders in Shane Battier and Tony Allen, a solid center in Marc Gasol (who scored 20 points in the game 1 win), an up and coming point guard in Mike Conley, Sam Young has been providing solid offense in his limited minutes as a starter, and offense off then bench in O.J Mayo and Darrell Arthur. Greivis Vasquez has been playing admirably as well as the team’s backup point guard. The bottom line is, this team is good on offense and defense, and they don’t mind slugging it out in close games, which is something that’ll happen more likely than ever during the playoffs.
It’s not impossible for them to make the Conference Finals, because of the way the Thunder plays, the Thunder relies heavily on the scoring of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, while Memphis relies on heavy scoring in the paint, the difference in both teams is that even when the two big guns for the Thunder got their points, they combined for 10 turnovers, and the other guy in double figures was Serge Ibaka, the Thunder lack a true option off the bench with an inconsistent James Harden, and the liability of keeping Kendrick Perkins on the court even though he is a versatile defender, does not outweigh the fact that he is a liability on offense, and that’s because plays just do not go through him as much as he likes to.
Memphis’ defense would be the key in this series, forcing turnovers and limited the rest of the team to what they did in game 1, and they could quitre possibly be the best 8th seed in history ever.
Room Service Dime 
Whew! man Zach Randolph is dominating the game as always.