Thunder vs Grizzlies preview: OKC faces the final countdown against Memphis

Oklahoma City Thunder vs Memphis Grizzlies

Time: 7PM CST

Location: Chesapeake Arena, OKC

Broadcast: FSOK

***

I thought this day would never come.

After 81 games of fist bumps, nausea, hope, enthusiasm, illness, and not more than once, a desire to give up on this team, we have reached the denouement of this wretched season. It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure, but we did it together. And now the Thunder have one final test, and that is to defeat one of the worst teams this season at home, with playoff implications on the line, and said opponent will be resting these guys:

So, I mean...maybe think about resting Steven Adams?

The Thunder have had a nagging disinterest in competing against lottery teams, but instead pride themselves on ‘getting up for the games that matter.’ Well, this one matters. This game decides whether they fall to the 8th seed and face the league’s best offering this year in the Houston Rockets, or if they actually have a shot at home court advantage in the first round, ascending all the way up to 4th.

I predict this game will be, to be charitable, ugly. I don’t expect lights-out shooting, and I don’t expect a clean affair. I do expect the Thunder hustle gang of Jerami Grant, Patrick Patterson, and Raymond Felton to go a long ways to pushing them across the finish line.

And I also expect there will be plenty of missed shots, and that bodes well for our favorite stat padder, Russell Westbrook. Pad away, Brodie. Pad away, and move into an unparalleled place in history unassailable by anyone, though those from Texas may try to take your rebounds. Leonidas had a thought about that. μολὼν λαβέ.

Win and wait. That’s what’s on the meal for tonight.