THE FUTURE, NOW

This is the other match-up I more look forward to simply because they are young, exciting, and the future of the NBA. Both teams have solid starting fives and reliable back-ups. Oklahoma City's combo of Durant-Westbrook has been their staple, but I think the biggest factor for this team is the play of Serge Ibaka. He has been a beast since he was slided to the starting lineup.  He and mid-season acquired Perkins should match up well with Memphis big men. Serge Ibaka - who leads the league in blocks - has to use his athletic ability to try and contain Zach Randolph who exploited Tim Duncan's old legs during the First Round. Together with Marc Gasol, Z-Bo will take advantage of their size against the Thunder.

Memphis will have to contain Kevin Durant and I think that is no problem having two of the top perimeter defenders in Shane Battier and Tony Allen. The Scoring Champ will have to work overtime in order to get his shots. Russell Westbrook may have a slight advantage over Mike Conley, Jr, but very slim.

I think there are two players that will have to step up bigtime for each team -- OJ  Mayo and James Harden. I think they are going to be the X-factor for their respective teams. I think this is going to be an exciting series as we are seeing two teams that is going to be the face of the NBA in the near future -- they may even arrived at a faster rate than expected.

OKC may try to out ran the Grizzlies, but I think that is solely their game. They have a very suspect halfcourt offense and that is were Memphis is good at with Randolph and Gasol inside.

I wonder what will David Stern do if one of these small market teams go into the Finals?

* As of presstime, the Memphis Grizzlies stole homecourt winning in OKC in Game 1.