Memphis, TN-Here are pregame notes before the Grizzlies-Thunder meet in game 5 Tuesday night.
* The Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder have split the first four games of their opening round playoff series, needing overtime to decide all of the last three contests… Memphis and Oklahoma City is just the second playoff series in NBA history to include three consecutive overtime games after the Bulls-Celtics series in 2009.
* When an NBA best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner goes on to win the series 85.9 percent of the time (225-37).
* The Grizzlies are 4-3 all-time in Game 5 (1-1 all-time in Game 5 vs. the Thunder).
* Over the last four NBA seasons (including playoffs), Memphis and Oklahoma City have played 31 times (Memphis has won 16), the most common pairing of any two NBA teams in that time… Of those 31 games, eight have gone to overtime (Memphis has won six), including the last three in a row… The Grizzlies and Thunder have played 7,690 minutes head-to-head over the past four seasons, over 1,000 more minutes than any other two NBA teams have played against each other (second place – Miami/Boston with 6,605)!
* With Kevin Durant (5-of-21 FG) and Russell Westbrook (6-of-24 FG) held in check, reserve guard Reggie Jackson lifted Oklahoma City to victory in Game 4 with a career-high 32 points… Jackson scored the final five of regulation to force overtime and then scored eight of the Thunder’s 12 points in the extra period… Jackson shot 11-of-16 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line after going just 3-of-19 overall in the first three games of the series combined.
* Jackson scored 32 points in the game despite not scoring in the first quarter… According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the most points scored in an NBA playoff game by a player who was shut out in the opening quarter since Kobe Bryant scored 38 points in Game 4 of the 2010 Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns… Kobe’s points by quarter in that game: first (0), second (15), third (16), fourth (7).
* Oklahoma City’s bench scored 43 points in Game 4 after netting just 48 points in the first three games of the series combined.
* Oklahoma City’s Game 4 win marked its first playoff victory in overtime since needing three overtimes to defeat Memphis in Game 4 of the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals, also at FedExForum… The Thunder would go on to win Game 5 of that series and eventually win in Game 7.
* The loss Saturday ended Memphis’ franchise-record 15-game home winning streak dating back to Feb. 11… It was the Grizzlies’ first loss at FedExForum since Feb. 5 to Dallas.
* Oklahoma City won the rebounding battle in Game 4, 58-49, and has outrebounded Memphis in all four games this series… The Thunder have outboarded the Grizzlies in all eight meetings this season, regular season and playoffs… The last time Memphis outrebounded Oklahoma City was in Game 5 of the 2013 Western Conference Semifinals last season in OKC.
* Tony Allen has helped the Grizzlies’ rebounding cause with 9.0 per game in the series… Allen recorded his second career playoff double-double in Game 4 with 14 points and 13 rebounds, which is a career high for either a regular season or postseason game, hauling in 10 on the offensive glass… Allen became the second Grizzlies reserve ever to double-double in a playoff game, joining Lorenzen Wright (10 points, 10 rebounds on April 29, 2006), and became the sixth reserve since the 1986 Playoffs to record at least 10 offensive rebounds in a postseason game, joining centers John Salley, Roy Tarpley, Jayson Williams, Greg Ostertag and, most recently, Jeff Foster, who accomplished the feat on May 1, 2005.
* No other guard in basketball-reference.com’s database (dating back to the 1986 Playoffs) has gotten 10 offensive rebounds off the bench in a playoff game aside from Tony Allen.
–grizzlies.com–