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| Randolph is playing the best basketball of his career at the right time. |
The No. 8 seeded Grizzlies came away with a 114-101 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder.
Randolph lead the way with 34 points, 10 rebounds and even snatched three steals on the road. Memphis became only the second No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in NBA postseason history after beating the San Antonio Spurs in six games.
They joined Don Nelson's Golden State Warriors as the only other team to accomplish that feat coming at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks back in 2007.
Randolph has been the anchor to Memphis's success early on.
Randolph has been the NBA's best player early in this year's postseason, averaging 21.5 points per game, grabbing 9.1 rebounds and shooting a remarkable 50 percent from the field.
In his second season with the Grizzlies, Randolph is excelling and may have found himself a home. His regular season numbers consisted of 20.1 PPG, 12.1 rebounds and also shot 50 percent from the field. A former first-round pick of the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2001, Randolph has bounced around during his 10-year career.
Randolph spent his first six seasons in Portland, where he developed into an All-Star caliber power forward, but was sent to the New York Knicks draft-night in 2007 for Steve Francis and Channing Frye.
The southpaw would play for the Knicks during the 2007-08 season, where he averaged 17.6 PPG, a career-worst since becoming a full-time starter in 2003. The former Michigan State Spartan started the 2008-09 season with the Big Apple, but only played 11 games for New York before being shipped to the Clippers in November of that season.
He would finish out the season with Los Angeles and that offseason was traded for the final time, this time to his current home in Memphis. Randolph was rewarded after leading the Grizzlies to their first playoff win in franchise history with a four-year extension worth $66 million.
With only three players on their current roster to make it out of the first-round before they beat the Spurs, the Grizzlies have nothing to lose during this current playoff run and everything to gain.
With every minute and possession the Grizzlies encounter during this year's postseason comes a little more experience for the future. With the top three teams record wise in the Western Conference centered around aging veterans, the young Grizzlies are on the rise to becoming the Western Conference elite.
They will now need to sign center Marc Gasol to an extension to continue to see that rise, with the rest of the core guys locked up for the long haul. Mike Conley, Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo are all under contract for the next couple of years, along now with Randolph.
Memphis is not longer a stepping stone in the Western Conference and are better than their 46-36 record indicates.
If may be only one win, but the Grizzlies might well on there way to the Western Conference Finals with a convincing victory on the road against the athletic Thunder. Randolph will look to continue his great postseason Tuesday night in Oklahoma.
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