Thunder Advance, Bulls Dominate

By - Kris Fletcher

Yesterday, Kevin Durant bounced back from his worst career playoff game with perhaps his best, as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 105-90, taking the series 4-3 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

Durant finished with 39 points, and sidekick Russell Westbrook had his first career playoff triple-double to lead the way for the Thunder. He finished with 14 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.

Photo by: Sarah Phipps

Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 18 points. Zach Randolph was held to 17 points and 10 rebounds, after averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds in Memphis' three wins in the series. He shot just 6-of-15 for the game.

Up next for Oklahoma City will be the Dallas Mavericks, who have had over a weeks rest after closing out their series with the Los Angeles Lakers with a sweep on May 8th. Game 1 is set for Tuesday.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, it was the Chicago Bulls continuing their dominance of the Miami Heat this season, winning by a final of 103-82. The Bulls are one of only two teams, the Mavericks being the other, who have yet to lose to the Heat this season.

League MVP Derrick Rose scored 28 points, and Luol Deng added 21 points, 4 steals and 7 rebounds, all while holding LeBron James in check. "The King" had only 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

Photo by: Getty Images

Chris Bosh led Miami with 30 points, but he was the only one of the "Big Three" that showed up. Dwyane Wade was held to just 18 points.

Game 2 of the series is set for Wednesday.

For Chicago fans, beating Miami to get to the NBA Finals would be sweet redemption after what happened over the summer.

With enough salary-cap room for two stars, the Bulls went after James, Wade and Bosh, hoping to land some combination of the two.

Well, you know the rest of that story.