Memphis center Marc Gasol had the height, weight and strength advantage over the 35-year-old Tim Duncan.

For the series, Gasol averaged 14.2 points and 11.8 rebounds to Duncan’s 12.6 and 10.5.

“We kept thinking they’d fold under the pressure, but they didn’t,” Duncan said. “They got the exact shots they needed, and they made them. We had so many close games, some that could have fallen to us, but they made the plays.”

In the end, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said this wasn’t as big as upset as the average basketball fan might be led to believe.

“Most people would think that, but they don’t understand the West,” Popovich said. “It doesn’t matter what your seeding is in the West. We all know that everyone is basically as good as everyone else.”

Antonio McDyess is ready to call it quits.

“This was my last game,” the 16-year veteran said. “I’m pretty definite on that. But this was not the way I wanted it to end.”
McDyess suffered another “stinger” in the third quarter of the Grizzlies’ 99-91 victory at the FedEx Forum, temporarily losing the feeling in his left arm, as he had in Game 3 at the same venue.

This time, he was able to return to the game, scoring 10 points and doing a yeoman, if futile, defensive job on Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies’ power forward scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, including 12 in the final 4:25 after a McDyess 20-foot jumper had given the Spurs their first lead since the first quarter.

“He did everything he could against Zach,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Spurs guard Tony Parker told a French television sports show that he plans to play for France’s team in this summer’s EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania.

Sporting News.com reported that a post on FIBA.com indicated Parker would be playing in the tournament. FIBA is the international governing body of basketball.

“I will be at EuroBasket this summer,” Parker said during an interview with a weekly sports television show in France. “I’m eager to get started. We have a really good team.”

Parker told the television show that he was piqued to play for the French team because Chicago center Joakim Noah also is planning to play.

Memphis guard Tony Allen accused Manu Ginobili of faking his right elbow injury.

Sports Illustrated reporter Chris Mannix just tweeted the interesting comment from Allen at the Grizzlies’ practice today, who claimed that Ginobili’s sprained right elbow is “for the birds.” 

Allen and Ginobili have been involved in a physical battle in both games that Ginobili has played in the series since missing Game 1 with what Spurs doctors diagnosed as a sprained right elbow.

“Everybody is banged up,” Allen said. “You don’t see me running to my PR guy telling him about an injury.”

The San Antonio Spurs face long odds as they attempt to come back from a 2-1 deficit versus the Memphis Grizzlies.

In the Spurs’ previous franchise history in best-of-7 series, they’ve been behind 2-1 in 12 previous series. They ended up winning only one of them.

The Spurs’ previous comeback from a 2-1 deficit came in the 2008 Western semifinals when they were behind 2-1 after three games against New Orleans.

They came back from that obstacle by winning three of the final four games, including a dramatic Game 7 triumph at New Orleans.

• Oklahoma City Thunder 106, Denver Nuggets 89

The Thunder joined the Heat, Celtics, Mavericks and Bulls in the up two games to nil column with a convincing, well-balanced victory over Denver.

Denver adjusted onto Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook following their Game 1 explosion, but the Thunder countered with strong offensive performances from Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Nick Collison.

The 54-31 rebounding differential was also huge for Oklahoma City, as they scored 24 second-chance points compared to just 10 for Denver.

The Nuggets just can’t effectively go small and quick against the Thunder and is why this was probably the worst possible matchup for them in the first round.

• San Antonio Spurs 93, Memphis Grizzlies 87

We knew Marc Gasol would regress to the mean and that the Spurs would have a better solution for defending Zach Randolph, but Gregg Popovich still needed Manu Ginobili’s return to prevent the series falling apart into an 0-2 deficit. 

Ginobili was a modest 5-for-13 from the floor, but his ability to get to the line 13 times was a big factor for the Spurs. Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson and George Hill all scored 16 or 17 points apiece.

• Los Angeles Lakers 87, New Orleans Hornets 78

Even though Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol combined for just 19 points, the Lakers made significant adjustments to their defense to slow down Chris Paul.

The Hornets committed 16 turnovers one game after limiting themselves to three and the Lakers converted those into 22 points.

The Lakers also dominated the points in the pain battle, outscoring New Orleans by a margin of 50-32.

The Spurs limited Zach Randolph to just 11 points in Game 2.

"They went after [Randolph] and attacked him defensively every time he put the ball on the floor," said Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins.

Despite Randolph being limited to just 26 minutes because of foul trouble, Darrell Arthur had a productive game in his place.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili is a game-time decision for Game 2 tonight against Memphis.

“The decision is  more whether a player can help or not,” coach Gregg Popovich said after shootaround this morning. “He’s definitely not going to be 100 percent. So is it good for the team or bad for the team (if he plays)?

“It will be a game-time decision,” Popovich said. “Obviously between now and then we’ll have figure out what we think the pluses and minuses are.”
Team doctors have assured Popovich there is little risk that Ginobili will re-injure his sprained right elbow.

Manu Ginobili took part in head-to-head scrimmaging at the end of the Spurs’ practice Monday afternoon.

Ginobili was raising his elbow more in shooting and dribbling than at any time since spraining his right elbow Wednesday night in Phoenix.

“We didn’t scrimmage five-on-five today,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s shooting and trying to his condition up so that when he does heal, he’ll at least be in some decent shape.”

Popovich said the Spurs are getting ready for Wednesday’s Game 2 against Memphis like Ginobili won’t be playing.

“We’ve prepared like he’s not here from the beginning,” Popovich said. “We’re still in that mode.”

The second day of the 2011 NBA Playoffs provided four tightly contested games and nearly four road upsets.

• Memphis Grizzlies 101, San Antonio Spurs 98

The Spurs limited Memphis on the offensive glass, Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich surely didn’t se a 9-for-10 from Marc Gasol coming. They probably also didn’t foresee Memphis going 6-for-10 from distance with O.J. Mayo posting a 3-for-4 and Shane Battier with a 2-for-2 and the dagger.

I expect the Spurs to emphasize the transition game a little bit more in Game 2 and also move the ball better as 13 assists for this team is unacceptable.

Memphis did an excellent job in controlling pace and San Antonio’s 47 attempts from the line played a part in that.

• New Orleans Hornets 109, Los Angeles Lakers 100

We can throw away the Phil Jackson has never lost a series after winning the first game storyline and I think we’re all the better for it.

Looking at the Hornets in preparation for this series, it shocked me that a Chris Paul team could be as inefficient on offense as they were over the regular season. But Chris Paul wasn’t always the Chris Paul we saw in Game 1. He had the expected 14 assists, but he also scored 33 points on 18 shots and turned the ball over just twice. Paul was scoring with the ease of an MVP and his assists were creating easy buckets at the rim.

As a team, the Hornets also had just three turnovers compared to 13 for the Lakers.

The advantage the Lakers hold over everyone, especially the Hornets, is in the frontcourt. While Andrew Bynum looked healthy and was productive, Pau Gasol was a no-show offensively.

A loss for a team like the Lakers sometimes is worth more than a win and this one could shock them into winning the next four.

• Boston Celtics 87, New York Knicks 85 

A 67.8 TS% Game 1 for Amar’e Stoudemire versus a just 38.0 TS% for Carmelo Anthony and New York had to go away from Stoudemire down the stretch. This helps explain why the Knicks had a tale of two offenses in their playoff debut together that they controlled for a large stretch of it. The part 

Beyond Ray Allen’s game-winner and team-high 24 points, the Celtics received fairly typical balance across the board. The other members of the Big 4 were largely inefficient, but were picked up by having a large impact with his 12 points on six shots, four boards and four blocks.

• Oklahoma City Thunder 107, Denver Nuggets 103

The Thunder have two superduperstars (Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 72 points) and the Nuggets have a nice collection of well above average scorers.

Eight of Denver’s nine players had at least eight points. Nene was the main man, scoring a very efficient 22 points on 11 shots.

The Nuggets had plenty of opportunities to win this one and will look to the no-call on the offensive interference and their inability to hit efficiently from the line (21-for-33) and from distance (4-for-16) as the main culprits.