AT&T Center - The San Antonio Spurs throttled the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, 105-83. From precise offensive execution, a franchise playoff record 14 threes made to holding Zach Randolph nearly scoreless for the game, the Spurs put on a clinic to go up 1-0 in the series.

However, Memphis has been in this spot before in the postseason. They were down 0-1 against the Clippers and Thunder only to rally and win both series.

After the game, I caught up with Memphis' Austin Daye, who finished Game 1 with 4 points, and 1 rebound, spoke about the loss to the Spurs, adjustments heading into Game 2 tonight, confidence, and more including his thought's on Tony Parker's MVP-caliber regular season.

Hard to imagine it has been 16 years since the San Antonio Spurs won the 1997 NBA Draft Lottery and drafted Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest. Duncan not only changed the future of the Spurs, it also changed the path for the Boston Celtics who had the best odds to get the No. 1 pick in 1997. The Spurs drafted Duncan and the Celtics drafted Chancey Billups and Ron Mercer.

For the Spurs, Duncan has led the franchise to four NBA titles while Boston went on to win one in this decade of the NBA with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

But what if fortunes were flipped? What if Boston won the 1997 NBA Draft and selected Duncan?  OrlandoMagic.com showed exactly how TD would look in a Boston uniform had he signed with the guys in green. Needless to say, Duncan in a Boston uniform doesn't look that bad but a black and silver jersey is more his speed.

Check out Celtic Duncan and my advanced apologies to Celtics fans who might still be smarting over not winning the 1997 Draft.

The San Antonio Spurs (9-2) will look to go up 2-0 on the Memphis Grizzlies (8-4) tonight in San Antonio as the Western Conference Finals continues.

The Spurs are coming off a convincing win in Game 1 over the Grizzlies 105-83. The Spurs connected on a franchise playoff-high 14 three pointers while Tony Parker led the San Antonio with 20 points, 9 assists and 2 steals. Kawhi Leonard poured in 18 points, and Danny Green added 16 points. Quincy Pondexter paced Memphis with 17 points off the bench. Zach Randolph was held to just two points on 1‐of‐8 shooting in 28 minutes.

Despite losing Game 1 versus the Spurs, San Antonio should not take their early series-lead. Against the Clippers and Thunder, Memphis fell 0-1 to start both series yet rallied to win both series.

And as the Spurs look to win Game 2, here are five things to watch for during tonight's game:

• The Spurs are 5-1 against the Grizzlies in postseason games played in San Antonio.

• Memphis is the only NBA team with three players ranked in the top 20 in scoring during the playoffs (Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley).

According to KSAT.com, San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker received death threats during Game 1 against the Mempis Grizzlies. Reportedly, the death threats came in with five minutes left in the game an security was ramped up during the game.

The stage is set and the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies meet once again in the postseason but this time for a shot at playing in the NBA Finals. 

Each team fought two tough teams but emerged from the pack, ready to bring home an NBA title. For the Spurs, it is a chance to bring a fifth title to the Alamo City and for the Grizzlies, a chance to capture their first title in franchise history.

Check out the road to the West Finals for San Antonio and Memphis. For Spurs fans, it'll be a nice way to get pumped up for Game 2 after San Antonio easily dispatched Memphis in Game 1.

AT&T Center -- Heading into Game 1 of the 2013 Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs knew Memphis Grizzlies' Tony Allen was going to be a problem defensively. He came into the series ranked second in the league during the playoffs in steals (2.27) and is the player on the Memphis roster who will routinely defend the opposing team's best player and does a good job of it too.

Over the last three seasons, the Memphis Grizzlies offense has never really hummed, but it doesn't sputter much either because of the work Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph do inside.  This was never more evident than in the 2011 playoffs, when Randolph shredded the San Antonio Spurs as Memphis eliminated the silver and black in six games. 

The 2013 Western Conference Finals is already off to a better start than the 2011 first round series, thanks in part to the work the Spurs' defense did on Randolph. 

Defending the Los Angeles Clippers and the Russell Westbrook-less Oklahoma City Thunder required strong defensive execution, to be sure, but Memphis only needed to prod and neutralize a few potent threats rather than many. They did so effectively, limiting both top shelf offenses to 99.9 points per 100 possessions.

Ask any San Antonio Spurs fan and they’ll tell you that the bad taste is still firmly planted in their mouths. It’s the recurring nightmare that simply won’t go away.

After the Spurs finished the season with the #1 seed in the Western Conference and went 61-21 on the season, they faced an underrated Grizzlies team that immediately stole home court in Game 1 with Manu Ginobili still out and finished off the Spurs in six games.

When previewing this series, many writers and broadcasters are making the mistake of using the 2011 series as a gauge of what to expect this time around, but both teams are very different, and this Spurs squad is undeniably better than the team the Spurs trotted out in 2011. The Spurs were set at point guard with George Hill, but had an injured Ginobili backed up by Neal at shooting guard, an underperforming Richard Jefferson and Steve Novak at the three. Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner were left to contend with the likes of Marc Gasol, Zack Randolph and Darrel Arthur.

AT&T Center – Coming into Game 1 of the San Antonio Spurs’ Western Conference playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were averaging a combined 38 points, 17.2 rebounds, 13 Free throw attempts, shooting 49% from the field, and drawing 12.8 fouls per game.

After 48 minutes of Game 1 and the Grizzlies falling by 22 points, Gasol and Randolph finished with a combined 17 points, 14 rebounds, 2 free throw attempts, and shot 29% from the field.

“We tried to play aggressive especially on Marc and Zach,” said Spurs forward Tiago Splitter after the game. “Just try to deny them. Whenever they got the ball, everybody was closing a little bit too. The smalls help us a lot too.”