NBA Playoff Schedule 2012: Grizzlies and Clippers Must Salvage 1st Round

To describe the first round of the 2012 NBA playoffs as a string of duds and unfortunate events would be something of an understatement...unless the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers can push their series to the limit.

Or relatively close to it, anyway.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have already swept the defending champion Dallas Mavericks out of the postseason, albeit in what may be the most exciting four-game best-of-seven series the league has ever seen. The San Antonio Spurs figure to join them in that department Monday night.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers all appear poised to close out their respective opponents in five games on Tuesday.

All of which leaves the Grizzlies and Clippers with the task of upholding the honor of the NBA's opening round. Surely, nobody expected this to be like the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in which seemingly every NHL favorite was either pushed to the brink or knocked out of the running entirely right off the bat.

But major injuries to the likes of Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Amar'e Stoudemire, Josh Smith and now Baron Davis have rendered at least three of the first eight series moot, while the NBA's overarching lack of parity has taken up the rest.

The Grizz and Clips, though, still seem to be going strong, as well they should. Theoretically speaking, the fourth and fifth seeds should put up the biggest fight against one another, if only because they're meant to be the most evenly matched.

Thus far, that's what they've appeared to be. Memphis seemed to be way ahead of L.A. before the Clips staged a miraculous 27-point comeback to steal Game 1 on the road. The Grizz came back with a decently close win in Game 2 before staging a late comeback of their own in Game 3, albeit one that fell just short in a one-point loss. A similar story played out in Game 4, wherein Memphis used an 11-1 run late in the game to tie it up in regulation before ultimately losing in overtime.

The Clips' All-Star duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin has looked better and better as this series has progressed, with Paul in particular providing the sort of late-game heroics that fans in L.A. have become accustomed to all season. Solid contributions from Randy Foye, Reggie Evans, Nick Young and Eric Bledsoe (among others) have certainly helped as well.

They've needed every drop against a Grizz squad loaded with talent from top to bottom, particularly with the front-line trio of Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay leading the way. Those three have borne the brunt of the load for Lionel Hollins' team, though Mike Conley, Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo have done their fair share to help out in the backcourt.

The hope, then, for the NBA, as well as legions of basketball fans everywhere, is that these two foes continue to duke it out for as long as possible. Otherwise, the league will be left to yawn its way into the conference semifinals, which could make for a pair of snoozers (in the East, at least) with the way the chips appear prepared to fall.

Then again, with L.A. up 3-1 heading into Game 5, we could be headed for yet another sweep, gentleman's or otherwise.

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