THE OPPONENT

For Memphis, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol inflicted much of the damage. Randolph had 30 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out in overtime. Gasol had 16 and 16. The other three Memphis starters — O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley — were fairly inefficient. Hasheem Thabeet had a glorious 54-second stint, registering all of one foul. And nothing else.

Memphis is one of the league's best rebounding teams. The Grizzlies are also quite good at drawing fouls and avoiding defensive fouls. However, the Grizzlies do everything else terribly. And I don't just mean in a basketball sense. Have you ever heard Rudy Gay play tuba? There's a reason for that! O.J. Mayo's crepes Suzette are among the worst ever made in the history of French cuisine. And Marc Gasol is the first Tenneseean to be banned from a skeet shooting range after an unfortunate (and completely avoidable) mishap involving an Eggo and a natural gas pipeline. (Don't ask.)

THE KEY BATTLE

Circumstances dictate that, assuming he plays, Evans will battle with Mayo, the larger of Memphis's guards. Martin marked Mayo last time, and did a fine job. Again, contrary to common belief, O.J. is a shooter, not really a slasher. If he does stab into the heart of the defense, he passes off pretty well. The key is to not give him a straight path to daylight. If you do, he'll make you regret it.

Evans should be able to do whatever he wants on Mayo, who is athletic as all get-out but doesn't seem to apply it particularly well on defense.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Spencer Hawes will attempt more threes than Marc Gasol.

BOLD PROCLAMATION II: ELECTRIC BUGALOO

Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds will not make insensitive remarks regarding Hamed Haddadi's nationality, which is something Clippers fans cannot say of their announcers.

DETAILS

This is a 5PM Pacific start. Game thread at 5, Game Thread II at 6, post-game thread at 7:45, recap in perpertuity.