In an NBA playoff series, each coaching staff searches for matchup advantages. If one has the personnel to attack a weak defender at a position, it forces the other to scramble their defense and leave someone open by sending a double team. At the same time, an inferior shooter on the perimeter or a big man who can’t finish in the paint can be doubled off of with impunity, ruining floor spacing and making it difficult to score.

Against the Memphis Grizzlies, however, there aren’t any matchup advantages to find. At every position on the floor, Memphis has at least one player who can create their own shot, defend and shoot. While they don’t have a transcendent superstar, they have the personnel to exploit teams who surround their All-NBA players with one dimensional players.

Most importantly, they have a huge size advantage against nearly every other team in the league. That’s what separates the Grizzlies from other superstar-less teams like the Nuggets and the 76ers who have very little chance of making a deep run in the playoffs. Memphis is a legitimate title contender, as they have the personnel to attack the weak spots on every team in the Western Conference, particularly on the front-line.

The Grizzlies have the best big man rotation in the NBA, with Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Marreese Speights. Gasol, at 7’1 265, is a five-tool center with range on his jumper (75% from the free-throw line) as well as the ability to see over the floor and hit the open man (3.1 assists to 1.9 turnovers). Randolph, while not at 100% after a early season knee injury, is one of the most skilled big men in the NBA at 6’9 260. However, his below the rim game does not depend on athleticism and explosiveness, so he should continue to improve as he regains his timing.

Speights, meanwhile, has been a pleasant surprise after an inconsistent three-year stint with Philadelphia where he could never gain the trust of the 76ers' coaching staff. But he’s a decent athlete at 6’10 255 who can score out of the low post and spread the floor, and he allows Memphis to attack smaller teams in the paint for 48 minutes a night.

On the perimeter, Lionel Hollins has shortened his rotation to five versatile players, which allows him to matchup with any perimeter rotation. He has one of the most athletic small forwards in the NBA (Rudy Gay), two 6’5+ wings with the size and athleticism to play shooting guard and small forward (Quincy Pondexter and Tony Allen), a 6’4 combo guard who can play both backcourt positions (OJ Mayo) as well as a true point guard (Mike Conley).

That depth and versatility allows Memphis to play the matchup game with any team out West. They have counters for players their opponents run offense through while still being capable of attacking any possible defensive weaknesses.

In their first-round playoff series against the LA Clippers, they have the size and athleticism to bother Chris Paul and Blake Griffin defensively. On the other end of the floor, they can attack LA on the wings, especially when the Clippers resort to going small with some combination of the 6’1 Mo Williams, 6’0 Eric Bledsoe and the 6’6 Nick Young next to Paul. In Game 2, Gay repeatedly scored over his smaller defenders, scoring 21 points on 9-13 shooting and eventually forcing Vinny Del Negro to play Kenyon Martin out of position at the 3.

While they would likely not be favored in a second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs, they would have the same advantage on the interior they exploited in their “shocking” first-round upset in 2011. Over the last few years, the Spurs lack of frontcourt defense has repeatedly let them down in the playoffs, and there’s little Matt Bonner, Boris Diaw and Dejuan Blair are going to be able to do against Randolph or Speights at power forward.

In a possible Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, Memphis has the size to match up with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, and the personnel at small forward and point guard to exploit the Lakers' lack of perimeter defense at those positions. And if they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder in a rematch of last year’s classic seven-game second round series, they have the defensive personnel to match up with all three of the Thunder's perimeter stars, while their big men would force Oklahoma City to keep their offensively limited front-court personnel on the floor.

There’s a reason they were able to recover from their devastating blown lead in Game 1: Gay can shoot over the top of every wing player in the Clippers rotation. It’s pretty easy to feel good about yourself when you are essentially shooting over a chair.

They may not have the star power of their Western Conference competitors, but they don’t have the same type of exploitable weaknesses either. In a seven-game series, the Grizzlies are going to find a matchup advantage before their opponents will, which is more than half the battle.