Perkins & Ibaka vs Gasol and Zac Randolph...Who wins?

[chambers]

I'm giving this big man battle to the Grizz pretty convincingly.
I think Gasol and Zeebo are too much for Ibaka and Perk, even they are a pretty awesome combo for the Thunder. I just think the Grizz have an advantage with the 2 big men that can score AND defend very well.
I'll be interested to see how the Grizzlies help defense goes against the Thunder and trying to stop Westbrook from Penetrating too- the Grizzlies have excellent help defense.
I just wonder if they can handle Durant and Westbrook at the same time.
If I recall they are up 3-1 in the season series and I think the Grizz are seriously underrated in this series.

Anyway, the Grizz win the battle of the big men and I'm predicting they take the series 4-2.

[Eja117]

I think K Durant and Russel Westbrook may have something to say about that

[chambers]

I think K Durant and Russel Westbrook may have something to say about that

Of course they will, but the Grizzlies managed to contain Parker, Ginobli and George Hill all penetrating with some of the best defense I've seen all season.

Battle of the big men= Grizz advantage.
Whether this big man advantage+ the Grizzlies ability to force Westbrook and Durant to shoot from the outside gives them a good shot.

[wdleehi]

These are the big men the Thunder got Perk for.


While they will still score, I would expect a less effective offense out of the Griz big men.  That's something the Griz can afford if they want to win.

[CelticG1]

How were the match ups during the season?

I'd think Ibaka would be tough match up for Rnadolph and Gasol being a tough match up for Perk.

I think the Griz may have an overall advantage when it comes to the front line but I don't think the gap is that big

[Roy H.]

While they will still score, I would expect a less effective offense out of the Griz big men. 

That's the key.  OKC doesn't expect their big men to outproduce Randolph and Gasol, they just want to limit them.  The Grizzlies' effectiveness is largely dependent upon Randolph scoring 20+ (he scored 25+ in four of the six games in the SAS series), and if the Thunder can limit his production, they've got an extremely good chance of winning.

[Drucci]

Perk struggles against mobile big men like Marc so I expect Gasol to take advantage. And I'm not sold on Ibaka's D on Zach either so I will take Memphis' bigs.

[scaryjerry]

Gasol and Randolph are better and its not that close honestly...Perk also struggles with guys like Gasol and Randolph both... they actually have post games, can shoot, rebound, and take you off the dribble...or is perk  going to dominate what not even one of the best post defenders and players ever in tim duncan couldnt stop?
Of course Ibaka is better than Antonio Mcdyess, that will be the difference

[sportsfreak]

I Think the Grizz have the Advantage this series as a whole. The Thunder struggled containing Nene last series, so i'm pretty sure they'll have issues with Randolph. Big difference from the Denver-Okc series is that gasol is there too, and he's >> K-Mart at this point in his career especially in terms of being the #2 big on a team.

Also I think the Tony Allen vs Westbrook Matchup and Battier vs Durant Matchup are going to be interesting. The only thing that i worry about from the Grizz is if they can get some consistent perimeter play which allows them to dump it in the post to Randolph, Gasol and Arthur.

[greg_kite]

The Grizz have the better big guys but their entire offense is driven by their post game.  And Ibaka and Perk are probably the best defensive big man duo in the league.

On the other hand the Grizz have to of the best wing defenders in Battier and T.A.

So it comes down to who can score in the face of tough D, Durant or Randolph?

I'd put my money on the league's leading scorer.

I also think T.A. is going to be a liability on offense.  Perk and Ibaka can get dunks and not cause too much of a problem on offense.  But when your 2 guard can't shoot it hurts spacing.
They will have to bring in Mayo for offense but then their D takes a hit.

Either way, this is going to be a fun series.  Two exciting young teams with former Celtics.  Whoever wins this series is our best hope for taking down L.A. before the Finals.

[Roy H.]

The Thunder struggled containing Nene last series, so i'm pretty sure they'll have issues with Randolph.

I'm not sure that this is true.  Nene had a big Game 1, especially in the 1st half.  However, Nene was held below his season average in FG% (61.5% vs. 47.8%) and points (14.5 vs. 14.2), despite playing more minutes.  In other words, the Thunder did a pretty good job against Nene.

Also, beyond Nene, the Thunder did a fantastic job of defending the Nuggets as a whole.  See this chart, courtesy of Tom Ziller:



In all five games, the Thunder kept the Nuggets (the highest scoring team in the NBA) below their season average, and in three of those games, they kept the Nuggets below the NBA average.  When you restrict the best offense in the league to below-NBA-average levels, you're doing something correctly.

[sportsfreak]

The Thunder struggled containing Nene last series, so i'm pretty sure they'll have issues with Randolph.

I'm not sure that this is true.  Nene had a big Game 1, especially in the 1st half.  However, Nene was held below his season average in FG% (61.5% vs. 47.8%) and points (14.5 vs. 14.2), despite playing more minutes.  In other words, the Thunder did a pretty good job against Nene.

Also, beyond Nene, the Thunder did a fantastic job of defending the Nuggets as a whole.  See this chart, courtesy of Tom Ziller:



In all five games, the Thunder kept the Nuggets (the highest scoring team in the NBA) below their season average, and in three of those games, they kept the Nuggets below the NBA average.  When you restrict the best offense in the league to below-NBA-average levels, you're doing something correctly.

I Stand Corrected. I guess when i saw Nene in there he seemed to be dominating, but i guess it was just the stretches i saw him ferociously dunking over the thunder bigmen

[Roy H.]

Very slightly off-topic, but did anybody see the plays Randolph was making down the stretch in Game 6?  McDyess, especially, was playing absolutely fantastic defense, and Randolph wouldn't be denied.

[jolly_roger]

From a pure basketball perspective I'm really excited about this match-up. Great post-offense vs. great post-defense and awesome perimeter-defense vs. awesome perimeter-offense.
So, like always, it comes down to match-ups. Perk should be able to contain Gasol to some extend. But I can't see Ibaka handling Z-Bo at all. He's just too [dang] big for him, so Ibaka will have to do something with his athleticism. I have no idea how Battier plays against Durant but I know TA can really frustrate him. Problem is, Conley has no chance of defending Westbrook, so it could be TA has to guard him.
While I can see all of the above match-ups somehow even themselves out, I think 2 things will more or less decide the winner. First is: Who will have the bigger impact between Mayo and Harden? The second is late game execution.

But no matter how things turn out, I'm pretty sure it will be awesome.    

[barefacedmonk]

Very slightly off-topic, but did anybody see the plays Randolph was making down the stretch in Game 6?  McDyess, especially, was playing absolutely fantastic defense, and Randolph wouldn't be denied.

Yup.

...and Z-Bo is just playing like a man possessed.