Play on: NBA Basketball
Date: Sunday, May-01-2011
Stadium: Oklahoma City Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
Game time: 20:55 CET
The new kids in town are trying to take over the Western Conference.
The Memphis Grizzlies already knocked out the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs and will now face the Oklahoma City Thunder in a series that ensures one of the NBA's rising young teams will make it to the conference finals.
The Thunder and Grizzlies were the league's two youngest teams at the start of last season, then improved their win totals more than any other teams. That rapid ascent has carried both into the second round of the playoffs, with Game 1 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.
"We're both bad teams that have risen up and become good teams," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said Saturday. " ... Our transformations started the same way, and they actually were ahead of us. We're here, and they're here."
But who would have ever believed it just two years ago?
The Thunder started out that season 3-29 and were on pace for the worst season in NBA history before a strong finish left them with 23 wins in their first season after relocating from Seattle to Oklahoma City. Memphis finished that year with 24 wins and started the next one 1-8 during the failed Allen Iverson experiment.
Both fired their coaches during the 2008-09 season and hired new ones who paved the way to the postseason.
Scott Brooks led Oklahoma City to a 27-win improvement last season -- from 23 to 50 -- and was named coach of the year after getting the Thunder into the playoffs.
Hollins produced a 16-win improvement that was the second-best. Then came this year's breakthrough, with the first playoff win -- and series win -- in franchise history for the Grizzlies, who have been in Memphis for 10 years after moving from Vancouver.
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