Memphis coach Lionel Hollins: ‘The more aggressive, desperate team won'

The Thunder was still able to set the tone and posted a 111-102 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday night inside Oklahoma City Arena to tie the Western Conference semifinal at 1-1.

They were just more aggressive tonight," Hollins said. "It was a classic desperate, more aggressive team and the desperate team usually wins. They were the desperate team in their play, which was a sense of urgency and aggressiveness."

With the victory, the Thunder guaranteed the series will return to Oklahoma City for Game 5 next Wednesday.

There were 50 foul and 67 free throws in Tuesday's contest. The Grizzlies had more rebounds (38-34), including nearly twice as many at the offensive end (13-7), but the Thunder undeniably had more of a defensive presence than in its 114-101 loss in Game 1 on Sunday.

Memphis guard Tony Allen picked up a stat sheet after Tuesday's contest and looked at the personal foul totals of OKC's frontcourt of Serge Ibaka (five), Nick Collison (five) and Kendrick Perkins (four).

"They got 14 fouls," the former Oklahoma State standout said. "They came out and beat us up. That was their plan, to beat us up and attack us and be aggressive and that's what they did.

"That didn't come as a surprise to us. We talked about it before the game even started and said, 'Let's not come out how we did in San Antonio for Game 2,' but we weren't focused as a group and this is the type result that you get."

Power forward Zach Randolph, who had 34 points in Game 1, was held to 15 in Game 2. Center Marc Gasol, who had 20 points in Game 1, had 13 in Game 2.

"They hit first, and give them credit," Gasol said. "We settled a little bit on the jumpers. We got a little bit out of control. We didn't execute the way we usually do. Give them credit for what they did. It's going to be a physical series. We knew that. No one said this was going to be easy."