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                               Sunday, May 19th
                              (All times Eastern)
 
 
 (5) MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (0-0) AT (2) SAN ANTONIO SPURS (0-0), 3:30 p.m.
 
 (Sports Network) - The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies will battle for
 the  Western  Conference title, starting  with Game  1 Sunday afternoon at the
 AT&T Center.
 
 The  two  teams  split  their  four regular-season  meetings  with  each  team
 successfully  defending their home-court. The Grizzlies are 5-0 at home during
 the  postseason and  3-3 on the road.  San Antonio is 4-1 in Alamo City during
 the playoffs and 4-1 away from the AT&T Center.
 
 Their  paths to  this point, both this season and as organizations, are wildly
 different.
 
 The  Spurs  are the benchmark franchise  in the NBA. They've captured four NBA
 championships  since 1999 and have made the Western Conference Finals eight of
 the last 15 years.
 
 The  Grizzlies are  competing in their first Western Conference Finals in team
 history,  a  history that started  in 1995  in Vancouver, British Columbia and
 eventually landed in Memphis in July 2001.
 
 The  Spurs swept a severely undermanned seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers team
 in  the  first round,  then chased  around the  spectacular backcourt of Steph
 Curry  and Klay  Thompson to  beat  the No.  6  Golden State  Warriors in  the
 semifinals.
 
 Memphis  bested the  Los Angeles Clippers in six games during the first round.
 The  Grizz toppled  the top-seeded  and reigning  Western Conference  champion
 Oklahoma City Thunder, who played without All-Star guard Russell Westbrook, in
 five games in Round 2.
 
 "We're  happy to  be here,  but we're  still focused  on bigger  things," said
 Grizzlies guard Mike Conley. "We've got another tough opponent."
 
 Defense  is  Memphis' calling  card. The  Grizzlies led  the NBA in opponents'
 scoring  during the  regular season  and were  third in  opponents' field-goal
 percentage.
 
 The  Spurs  weren't  slouches  defensively during  the  regular  season.  They
 finished 11th in opponents' scoring and eighth in field-goal percentage.
 
 Both teams have held their opponents under 94 ppg during the postseason.
 
 "It's  going to  be a rough one,"  admitted Tim Duncan after the Spurs' Game 6
 win  over the Golden State Warriors. "It's not going to be pretty, sorry. It's
 just not going to be."
 
 For  the Spurs, Tony  Parker has led the team in scoring during the postseason
 with  22.4  ppg. Duncan, Kawhi Leonard,  Manu Ginobili and Danny Green are all
 scoring in double figures.
 
 Memphis  has seen  a massive scoring improvement from their big three in these
 playoffs.  Conley,  Zach Randolph and Marc  Gasol, the Defensive Player of the
 Year, are averaging 11.5 ppg more in the postseason than the regular season.
 
 There is some postseason history between these two teams.
 
 It  was just  two years ago when the  Grizzlies became the third No. 8 seed in
 NBA playoff history to upset a No. 1. That top-ranked team was the Spurs. Back
 then,  San Antonio  had  trouble with  the front  court  of Memphis.  However,
 Antonio McDyess was the starting center then, now it's Tiago Splitter.
 
 "We're  a  different team  then when we  faced them a  couple years ago," said
 Duncan.  "With Tiago and  the size we have that's going to be big for us. It's
 going to be a big-man series."
 
 Game 2 will be Tuesday night in San Antonio.
 
 05/19 10:32:55 ET

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