OKC Thunder First-Round Playoff Preview Against Memphis Grizzlies

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies will take the court at noon today to kick off a first-round series in the Western Conference. It’s the top-seeded Thunder against a Grizzlies team that snuck into the playoffs through the Play-In Tournament, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a competitive series.

Paycom Center in Oklahoma City will be a must-experience environment, as the city and fanbase has expectations for a deep playoff push. The franchise is set up for a potential trip to the NBA Finals, but the focus entering today is Game 1.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Thunder’s first-round series against the Grizzlies.

Schedule

Given how dominant the Thunder has been this season, this could be a series that only goes four or five games. In either case, the next week will provide much more clarity on the playoff outlook for both of these squads.

• Game 1: Sunday, April 20 (12:00 p.m. CT) – ABC
• Game 2: Tuesday, April 22 (6:30 p.m. CT) – TNT
• Game 3: Thursday, April 24 (8:30 p.m. CT) – TNT
• Game 4: Saturday, April 26 (2:30 p.m. CT) – TNT
• Game 5*: Monday. April 28 (Time TBD) – Network TBD
• Game 6*: Thursday, May 1 (Time TBD) – Network TBD
• Game 7*: Saturday, May 3 (Time TBD) – Network TBD

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Regular Season Results

Oklahoma City and Memphis matched up four times in the regular season, with the Thunder coming out on top all four times. In fact, OKC had arguably its most success against any playoff team when playing the Grizzlies this season.

It’s worth noting that neither team was fully healthy when playing any of these four contests, but that’s also the case now. Jaylen Wells was set to be a key contributor in a series like this, but both him and Brandon Clarke will miss the remainder of the season.

As such, unless something dramatically changes, the Thunder should feel good about this matchup. It wasn’t a tough test in the regular season and shouldn’t be now either.

Oklahoma City should comfortably win this series in five games.

Things to Watch For

The biggest storyline entering this series is the status of Ja Morant. The Grizzlies’ star has been dealing with ankle injury, but has been getting treatment to take the floor. He will undoubtedly play in Game 1 and likely beyond, but he won’t be full strength.

Regardless, Memphis is the significant underdog in this series. Oklahoma City also has elite guard defenders, so both Morant and Desmond Bane will have to work for every shot attempt they get. That means the frontcourt — notably Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Eddy — will play a big factor. Edey will be an important piece to watch, as the rookie could either be a difference-maker early in this series, or played off the floor.

This could be a rhythm series for the Thunder. While the Grizzlies can’t be overlooked, it will be important for OKC’s role players to gain confidence and get into a groove for the later rounds of the playoffs. That’s especially true given the Thunder hasn’t played its standard rotation in more than a week.