Oklahoma City Thunder Top Memphis Grizzlies to Advance to Conference Finals

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 105-90 Sunday to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Kevin Durant shook of the previous games performance and scored 39 points to spur his team on and got plenty of help from Russell Westbrook who played well enough to get a triple-double. This is the farthest the franchise has advanced in the postseason since the they were the Seattle SuperSonics and lost in the 1996 NBA Finals.

Zac Randolph had an underwhelming game for the Grizzlies only managing 17 points and 10 rebounds. Humble in defeat he said, "Durant is a special player, one of the best players in the NBA...He's one of my favorite players. You've got to give him kudos and give him respect."

Throughout the series Thunder guard Westbrook was criticized for taking too many shots and not allowing Durant to take control of the game. Sunday Westbrook had a stellar game with 14 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. He let Durant score the majority of the points but he was still dictating what happened on the floor, as any good point guard should.

Mike Conley was the leading scorer for the Grizzlies with 18. Though the team would have liked to continue playing it was still a year of franchise firsts for Memphis. The franchise had never before won a playoff game and nearly became the first 8 seed to reach the West finals.

The Grizzlies went cold in the middle of the first quarter and missed 18 of their 23 shots allowing Oklahoma City to go on a 13-4 to close out the first quarter. The Thunder received a spark from an unusual place, Durant's mother. During a timeout cameras caught her dancing in her seat and it seemed to spark something in Kevin as he came out and hit a quick jumper and three point shot during a 9-0 run. At the end of the run the lead was 33-23 Thunder.

The Grizzlies cut the lead to 52-49 in the second half but let the Thunder pull away again behind a 14-2 run that putt hem up for good. With 1:24 to go in the third quarter the Thunder were ahead 66-51 and never looked back.

The Thunder will now take on the Dallas Mavericks to decide which team advances to the NBA Finals