Thunder take down Grizzlies to force Game 7

By foxsports
Published

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - When it's fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, you hand the ball to Adrian Peterson. Every time.

When you're down to your last game, you hand the ball to your superstar. Every time.

Distant and and defeated for most of this series against the Grizzlies, Kevin Durant went from decoy to dominating. Durant played like the MVP he most certainly will be named next week as he not only took the ball, he took the team and his franchise from elimination to exhilaration.

Durant is Adrian Peterson in long shorts, unstoppable when he wants to be and undeniable when he needs to be.

Because of Durant the Thunder are still playing. There will be a Game 7 and it will be in Oklahoma City on Saturday after a 104-84 victory Thursday in Memphis.

Win or lose, the Thunder were putting the game and the season in the hands of Durant, or maybe it was the other way around. Durant took the ball early, took 10 first-quarter shots, went to the free throw line 15 times in the game and didn't just demand the ball, he deserved it.

Durant played smooth and under control, but with the urgency of a guy trying to catch a plane. Durant was fast and efficient. Involved and interested.

"Just leave it all on the floor for the team," Durant said in Memphis. "I had to take it to another level as far as my intensity."

All of this one game after Durant was content to sit back and say he was OK with not being involved with the offense in a fourth-quarter comeback that didn't happen.

"I just told myself I don't care if they go in or not," Durant said. "I wanted to start off playing as hard as I can.  "Just be aggressive. We were down 3-2. That's motivation for us all. We needed to win this game."

This wasn't the same Durant who came into the game shooting just 40 percent for the series. He wasn't just assertive, he was effective going 11-of-23 for 36 points.

"Durant went first," Memphis coach Dave Joerger said after the game to the reporters in Memphis. He ate first. Very assertive, early in the game."

He went first, because if the Thunder went out, Durant was going to have to deal with the baggage of a first-round playoff loss without having played his best. Durant hasn't been great this series. He's missed free throws and he's missed shots – the kind of shots Durant normally makes.

Credit to coach Scott Brooks who moved Caron Butler into the starting lineup to generate more offense and credit to Durant's teammates to differing to their star.

"Everything we needed," Butler said of Durant's performance to reporters in the lockerroom. "One of the biggest games of the season."

You don't throw a fade route to the back of the endzone when Adrian Peterson is in the backfield, because you don't want to wonder, "what if?"

You don't want to lose a playoff series asking, "Geez, why aren't the Thunder using their best player more?"

That question never came up because Durant answered it. Win or lose, shots falling or shots falling short. Thursday needed to be Durant's moment.

The Thunder led by 15 at halftime, 21 at one point in the second half and Durant added a 14th playoff game where he scored 35 or more points.

"He doesn't need outside influences to motivate him," Brooks said. "He's self-motivated and does everything for his team."

Durant did everything Thursday. Now he has to do it again.

How good was Durant? Tell me on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK