2011 Kentucky Derby betting players don’t have to worry about last year’s winner, or any other horse that has ever won since the “Run For The Roses” is a constantly rotating list of three-year-old horses. In the NBA’s Western Conference, a pair of new teams (albeit, teams that used to be in other cities) make for an intriguing matchup and Game 1 showed that this could be the best series of the second round. Memphis played an exhausting six-game series against the top seed from San Antonio, becoming the fourth No.8 to beat a No.1, then had to turn around from closing that series on Friday night to playing on Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder had been waiting since eliminating Denver in four games on Wednesday. But the Grizzlies didn’t look tired at all and controlled the Thunder from beginning to end of a 114-101 win, and each time the Thunder looked to make a run, the Grizzlies came right back. Those who watch NBA scores have seen Memphis jump on the back of their big men, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, and the two combined for 54 points and 23 rebounds. Randolph was massive down the stretch, and the Grizzlies hit 12 free throws in the final three minutes of the game to seal the deal. The Thunder were led by 33 points and 11 boards from Kevin Durant, while Russell Westbrook had 29 points, eight boards and six assists, but he also had seven turnovers, along with 23 shots as opposed to 21 for Durant, who was much more efficient. This is something that continues from the Denver series, and Durant and Westbrook are now basically shooting the same amount of shots (20.8 shots for Durant, 20.7 shots for Westbrook). The problem is, Durant is shooting 48% from the field (45.2% from three-point land), while Westbrook is hitting just 39.5% of his shots (32.0% from beyond the arc). You shouldn’t need a 5dimes review to tell you that Durant needs to be taking the majority of the shots for the Thunder. This is taking nothing away from the Grizzlies, who played Durant very closely throughout the game, led by the duo of Tony Allen and Shane Battier, but the onus is on Westbrook to get the ball to Durant more and to be more efficient with the ball. The Grizzlies led the regular season in forcing turnovers, and Westbrook failing to stay in control is playing right into Memphis’ hands. If the Thunder are going to fight back in this series, Westbrook needs to take care of the ball and the Oklahoma City big men have to neutralize their Memphis counterparts to give the Thunder a chance in your sports betting book.
