Thunder-Grizzlies Summary

As the 2013 playoff series unfold, the old box score stats may not tell the whole story. These summaries will look at each series from the perspective of plus/minus. With an adjustment for minutes played, Oden's Knee will identify the players that stood out in each series, for good and bad reasons alike.

My prediction was: Thunder in 7.

Best Plus Minus: Marc Gasol (+35 in 209 minutes). I'd like to split this award with his teammate, Zach Randolph. If Curry and Thompson are the Splash Brothers, then someone needs to give these two a cool nickname (and Bash Brothers doesn't seem right, so don't even bother). It's not the style of basketball that grabs casual fans, but for some people (read: me), intelligent defense played hard is fun to watch. And the best part? They won't go small in crunch time; they make opponents play their way. It should be fun watching them match up with the Spurs or Warriors.

Worst Plus Minus: Reggie Jackson (-33 in 188 minutes). It feels like people don't remember that Eric Maynor used to give OKC great minutes at backup point guard before he tore his ACL. Given his unanticipated jump in responsibility, I suppose he gets a pass. But, in five games, he made six shots outside the paint, and yielded a 2:1 assist-turnover ratio, and generated less than three free throw attempts per game.  If the goal is to be a poor man's Westbrook, he's got a little work to do.

Most Valuable Player: Derek Fisher (Net +32 in 135 minutes). Derek Fisher has already received more attention on this blog than I'd like. So I'm moving on.

Least Valuable Player: Tayshaun Prince (Net -27 in 157 minutes). For most of the crunch time minutes I saw, Prince seemed to gum up the works on offense as often as he helped facilitate. Also, Tony Allen appeared to take a page out of the 2006 Dirk Nowitzki scouting report ("put a mean shorter defender on him, he won't take him down low) with great success against Durant. I'd personally like to see Pondexter get a little more run in this spot, and maybe the next opponent's lack of a 6-10 small forward with 30 foot shooting range will let that happen.

Jerome James Award: Whining About Injuries. I'm a little sick of listening to Thunder fans complain about their bad luck with injuries. The fact that injuries play a major role in the playoffs is not new, it's just new to Thunder fans. As a public service, allow me to catch OKC fans up on what's been happening in the NBA the last few years: 

• in 2013, the Knicks don't beat the Celtics if Rajon Rondo doesn't tear his ACL. The Warriors don't beat the Nuggets if Gallinari doesn't tear his ACL, unless David Lee doesn't tear his hip flexor.
• in 2012, the Heat don't need seven games to beat the Celtics if Chris Bosh doesn't miss the first few games of that series. The Celtics don't even get to the conference finals if a healthy Derrick Rose leads the Bulls past the Sixers in the 1st round.
• in 2011, the Thunder doesn't beat Memphis in seven games if Rudy Gay doesn't miss the entire playoffs that year. The Grizzlies don't beat the Spurs in Round 1 if Manu Ginobli isn't battling an elbow injury during that series.
• in 2010, the Lakers don't beat the Celtics if Kendrick Perkins doesn't tear his ACL in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
• in 2009, the Magic don't beat the Celtics if Kevin Garnett doesn't injure his knee at the end of the regular season.

Sometimes bad things happen in sports, and there isn't a clear reason why. Sometimes it means teams and players don't get to achieve what they could have. For crying out loud, the name of this blog is an homage to that very fact. So, feel sorry for yourselves if you want, it's your right. But please don't expect the rest of the sports world to feel your pain; it's been par for the course for everyone else for a while now.