NBA 2018-19: 3 talking points from Memphis Grizzlies vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City had to put in extra effort to pull off a win against the Grizzlies, mainly because their MVP candidate missed his third-straight game with a sore shoulder. Brodie and his squad willed their way to a come-from-behind 99-95 win against the visitors as the league leader in steals and the second-best scorer sat out yet again.

This was OKC's fifth win in the last ten games as they improved to 39-24 (0.619) on the season. Tied for the third spot with the Trailblazers after the win, Oklahoma are still 5 games behind the West leaders in the Warriors.

With the Grizzlies being the second worst team of the Western Conference (after Phoenix Suns) this was an uncharacteristically tough win for the hosts. The loss means that the Gasol-less Memphis side drops to a dismal 25-40 (0.385) win-loss record on the season, grazing the bottom of the West leaderboard at the 14th spot.

On that note, let's take a look at some talking points from this Grizzlies-Thunder clash.

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#1 Westbrook receives ample help from support crew in Paul George's absence

Steven Adams is averaging a career-high in rebounds this season so far.

Steven Adams and Jerami Grant combined for 26 points on a night when their team needed all the help possible. Adams finished with a double-double of 13 rebounds and 22 rebounds (one short of his career-high), which included 8 offensive boards as well.

Dennis Schroder put together a double-double of his own, aiding the Thunder's winning cause through his 17 points and 12 rebounds. He also chipped in six dimes and a couple of steals to make up for PG13's absence on the defensive perimeter.

"With Paul out, certainly offensively, it's been a challenge the last several games," Donovan said. "I've been trying to find a way to keep helping our guys offensively in order to create an identity with him being out."

Abdel Nader gave Coach Donovan some valuable minutes, contributing 15 points on 3-6 shooting from deep. Expectedly so, Westbrook came up with a team-high total of 22 points and some crunch play during the final minutes to seal the deal for his team.

#2 Memphis put up a solid fight; miss Mike Conley down the stretch

The Grizzlies traded franchise cornerstone Marc Gasol to the Raptors recently.

The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder in each of the first three quarters, leading 75-67 at the start of the fourth. It was only when a minute of play was left that Westbrook hit a three to tie the game, closely followed by a go-ahead jumper to end it all.

Russ and his go-ahead bucket. pic.twitter.com/YwLOLLb9fO

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 4, 2019

As Westbrook scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth and deciding period, helping his team come back from a 13-point deficit in the final seven minutes or so, Memphis remained unresponsive. One of the pivotal aspects of what prevailed in the dying minutes of the game was the itching absence of Mike Conley who is revered as the Grizzlies' go-to man in such situations.

"You know in the fourth quarter we rely heavily on Mike, so it was somebody different we were having to find tonight, and that's just a matter of us getting comfortable and familiar with one another and growing and learning from it.", explained Coach Bickerstaff.

The Thunder held the Grizzlies to 6-of-21 shooting in the fourth.

#3 What this win means for the George-less Thunder side

OKC looked out of sorts without their main man.

Oklahoma had lost to the Kings, Nuggets, Sixers, and Spurs before Memphis came visiting. Their will against the Grizzlies in the final minutes to clinch a much-needed win meant that they had snapped a four-game losing streak.

There was an evident lack of scoring options on the floor, leading to Westbrook pulling up 13 shots from deep. The apparent tussle to bag a win against the second-worst team in your Conference shows how reliant the squad is on their MVP contender.

"We have to defend at a higher level every single night. Offensively, we struggled to get any kind of flow or continuity there, but I give our guys credit -- they still tried to work as hard as they could to defend, even though offensively, we had our challenges.", admitted Coach Billy Donovan.

When asked about the losing streak, Thunder forward Abdel Nader confessed of the imperfections his team possessed but in a positive manner,

"Like I said, we have some things we definitely need to clean up, but this was a good step forward to get the job done."