Game 3 Preview: San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies

San Antonio Spurs @ Memphis Grizzlies

FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
Date: 4/22/16, Time: 8:30 PM Spurs Time
TV: ESPN - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

At theater screenings of the 2003 film The Room, bringing spoons is encouraged. Between scenes of rooftop heart-to-hearts and visits to the flower shop, viewers can indulge in throwing plastic spoons at the screen at any point when a framed picture of silverware comes into frame. It's more fun than it sounds!

Spoons -- even metaphorical ones -- are less ideal when they're metaphorically wielded against metaphorical guns in metaphorical battle. That's how Matt Barnes illustrated the Grizzlies' efforts against the Spurs following their 94-68 Game 2 loss.

Matt Barnes: "We're coming to a gunfight with spoons."

— Geoff Calkins (@geoff_calkins) April 20, 2016

It's less than ideal to lead with a quote uttered casually post defeat (or, for that matter, make any allusion to The Room), but as this series' conclusion appears more and more foregone, quotes and memes can help keep you going.

LOL pic.twitter.com/YliehNkNc6

— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) April 20, 2016

What @Matt_Barnes22 saw when he was inbounding last night. pic.twitter.com/lUZjed3sX3

— The Starters (@TheStarters) April 20, 2016

For a team that packed spoons, the Grizzlies haven't been able to feed so far this series. Through two games the Spurs have held them to 142 points and 36% shooting, and they've done it while keeping their own stars on ice (in Game 1 no one played more than 29 minutes, while in Game 2 the number was capped at 27). As the only big hitter on Memphis' roster, the Spurs have made Zach Randolph a major focus of their defensive scheme, which has made for some long nights for Z-Bo, who went cold again (5 for 17) on Tuesday.

The goal of course is to not only get the W in games like these, but to continue to find ways to stay sharp.  Michael Erler noted recently that one contrast between playoff Spurs and regular season Spurs is that they begin to play their opponents instead of focusing on their own game/style of play.

Plays like the below are great to look at, but it's hard to imagine them coming as easily against a defense like the Warriors' that stymied San Antonio during the regular season:

That's why I liked what happened in Game 2 in which, by design or not, the Spurs were equally aggressive and inventive in one-on-one situations. When it wasn't Boris gamboling around Chris Andersen for an easy two, Kawhi went to work against Matt Barnes and, at times, the rest of the Grizzlies D.

Again, buckets like that won't come as easily versus Golden State, but the Spurs' team offense as a whole will only go as far as the individuals' ability to attack and stretch the the Warriors' very elastic defense.

The Rockets pulled off the unlikely upset of Golden State last night, but it took a number of factors that Memphis doesn't have going for it, the two most important being the absence of their opponent's superstar and a big performance from their own. The Spurs should be able to come in tonight with the same focus they've shown so far and hopefully set things up for the sweep on Sunday.

Key to winning: Get in. Get out. Bring home something nice.

Game prediction: Spurs by 17.

For the Grizzlies fans' perspective, visit Grizzly Bear Blues.

As always Tony must dominate Fisher.

As always, PtR's Gamethread will be up this evening for those who want to chat through the game. But if you're not able to log in here, you can try the Fanvana app which helps connect sports fans and was created by a fellow Spurs fan. Check out the free app on iOS or Android to discover other Spurs fans and join the live chatter for tonight's game. You can follow PtR's tweet stream directly on Fanvana as the game unfolds.