By John Hollinger
ESPN.com

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It's all about spacing, folks.

Undoubtedly, you've heard all about the big picture by now -- that the Memphis Grizzlies stared elimination in the face, dug down, and as they've done all season, gritted and grinded their way to an improbable win. Trailing by 10 points at halftime, Memphis overwhelmed Oklahoma City with energy after the break to rally past the Thunder 95-83 in Game 6 and tie the series at three games apiece. Game 7 is Sunday in Oklahoma City.

That the Grizzlies came back was no surprise -- the team with a double-digit first-half lead lost all three games in Memphis this series.

Besides, you knew these Grizzlies weren't going down without a fight. Not after the way they scratched and clawed all season, not in front of a crowd that had truly adopted the team for the first time in 10 years in this city, and certainly not after busting out legendary Memphis native Al Green for a memorable national anthem.

And of course, Memphis' effort played a huge role once again. Memphis had a plus-6 advantage in offensive rebounds and turnovers, continuing a series-long trend, and provided two signature moments when both Shane Battier and Marc Gasol dove to the floor to outhustle Thunder players for loose balls.

"Nothing special," the lumbering Gasol said of his unlikely dive past Thabo Sefolosha to preserve a first-half possession. But it was emblematic of the divergent energy levels. In a feisty game that featured five technical fouls, the Grizzlies were the hungrier team.

But let's get back to spacing, because that's the real story from Friday, and it will bear watching again in the rubber match Sunday in Oklahoma City.

In a nutshell, the Grizzlies had it and the Thunder didn't.

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins turned to O.J. Mayo as his starting shooting guard, replacing Sam Young, and went with the better-shooting Mayo for 39 minutes. (Befitting a Memphis player, Young's life briefly turned into a Johnny Cash song Friday; minutes after learning at shootaround that he wouldn't start, his car was stolen.)

Mayo made two of his four 3-point attempts, but more importantly, his presence on the floor afforded more space for Zach Randolph in the paint. That was especially true when he shared the floor with Shane Battier, who played 28:30 himself and hit perhaps the most important shot of the game when his high-arcing 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer cut the Thunder lead to 10.

"We weren't spacing the court," Hollins said. "They were just clamping down on Zach with two of three guys. We felt like if we put a shooter out there, they would have to honor him and they did it."

The plan worked perfectly. Z-Bo blew up for 30 points, nearly all of them against single coverage in low-block post-ups, as the Thunder couldn't clog the paint the way they did when Young and Tony Allen were playing the wings in Games 2 through 5.

"I thought the lineup change with O.J. really opened it up. It got Zach off early. He got in a good rhythm, and it just carried on in the fourth quarter," Hollins said.

The same can't be said for Oklahoma City, which saw Kevin Durant struggle to one of his worst games as a pro -- 3-of-14, 11 points -- as the Grizzlies' physical defense and constant double-teaming left him both frustrated and unusually passive. It was his lowest output in more than two years, since he scored 10 points in Portland on April 10, 2009.

That was somewhat because Oklahoma City's defenders paid no attention whatsoever to Kendrick Perkins. Perkins played 33 minutes for the Thunder, partly to have his post defense on the floor against Randolph, but his offense was such a liability that he should have got the hook.

Gasol constantly abandoned Perkins to double-team Durant, with or without the ball, sometimes coming out above the 3-point line. While Durant gave up far too easily when he was denied the ball, the lack of an effective counter with Perkins made Memphis' strategy pay off big. Perkins slipped through for one easy layup but otherwise wasn't able to burn the Grizzlies for leaving him; when he did wriggle free, Memphis was more than happy to foul him and take its chances at the line, where he went 4-for-6.

"It's Kevin Durant, now," Gasol said. "We know what they're trying to do. They got a couple of slips on Kendrick, but if Kendrick gets a little hot, we can live with that. But if KD does, it's not good."

The Grizzlies' floor-shrinking defense affected the other Thunder players, too. Oklahoma City shot 4-of-25 from beyond the arc, many of them forced, and scored only 17 points from the free throw line, where it normally does much of its damage.

And as much as Memphis' defense and energy played a role, one couldn't help watching the second half of this game and wondering what exactly was going on with Durant. Or rather, wasn't going on. Battier and Tony Allen played exemplary defense, yes, and getting doubled all the time by Gasol wasn't helping, either.

"They were double-teaming him every time," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

Other factors contributed. Durant got two early fouls -- the second on a dubious offensive foul call -- and never seemed to regain his rhythm when he re-entered off his usual rotation to start the second quarter. And I will add, Durant had some clean looks he normally makes and just missed their mark. Certainly, an out-of-character stinker such as this doesn't happen without a combination of factors.

"He just couldn't get anything to fall," Brooks said, "and he shot too many 3s. When Kevin's good, he's attacking the basket."

But what stuck out far too often was that Durant just flat-out gave up after fairly tepid efforts to get himself open. One wonders whether the energy and physicality Memphis is throwing at him game after game is wearing him down, because his scoring numbers have been in steady descent as the series has worn on ... with the lone spike coming with the aid of three overtimes in Game 4. Otherwise, here's the progression: 33-26-22-19-11.

"Kevin has to fight more," Brooks said matter-of-factly. "He has to make sure he sets the screens up and comes off it harder than he did tonight."

If he does, one suspects the energy of the home crowd will be enough to advance the Thunder to the Western Conference finals and an I-35 showdown with Dallas.

But if Durant allows a lack of floor spacers and the Grizzlies' gritting and grinding to turn him into the meek bystander he was for much of Friday night, Memphis' improbable, Cinderella season might have at least one more surprise in store.

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