NBA - Grizzlies stun top-seeded Spurs, face Thunder in second round [video]

MEMPHIS (NBA) - When Team USA forward Rudy Gay went down in mid-February with an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season, no one gave his Memphis Grizzlies much of a chance of accomplishing anything this year.

Fast forward two and a half months later and the underdogs on Friday night produced one of the biggest upset in NBA history by sending the Western Conference top seed San Antonio Spurs crashing out of the playoffs in the first round.

Zach Randolph scored 17 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies won Game 6 99-91 to beat the Spurs 4-2 in the series.

It was the fourth time in the history of the NBA that an eighth-seeded team beat a top seed, and only the second time since the first round of the playoffs has been played in the best-of-seven format.

Memphis led for most of the way but San Antonio went ahead 80-79 with five minutes left to play.

That's when Randolph took over, scoring 10 of the next 14 points, sealing a win that sees the Grizzlies move into the second round of the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history.

“He put the whole team on his back and delivered,” said team-mate and Spain international Marc Gasol of Randolph.

“That was, for me on the court, one of the most unreal performances in the fourth quarter in a long time. The last four or five minutes of the game, he just carried us. It was unbelievable.”

Randolph afterward said he took over because he knew how high the stakes were and what awaited if the Grizzlies didn't make the most of their opportunity.

"It was very important for us to finish this game off because we didn't want to go back to San Antonio," he explained.

The outcome of the series may be all the more surprising considering that the Grizzlies entered this post-season having never won a playoff game (0-12).

San Antonio acknowledged they lost to a better team.

“They were the better team, and they played better than we did,” said Spurs head coach Popovich.

“I thought their athleticism, their strength, their size really hurt us offensively. We could not get a lot done. We really had trouble scoring against their defense. They deserve a lot of credit for that. Obviously, I am sad about the loss but happy for them and what they have accomplished.”

"It's very frustrating. Obviously we played well all season long but as you know it doesn't mean anything if you don't play well in the playoffs and overall Memphis played better than us in the series," said France and Spurs point guard Tony Parker.

"We had the chance at the end, when we were up by one with five minutes to go but we didn't make the plays we needed."

The Grizzlies don't have a lot of time to celebrate as they open their second series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

"It's going to be tough," Randolph said looking ahead. "They have one of the best players in the league in Kevin Durant and another very good player in Russell Westbrook.

"We just have to come out and do our best to contain them and play good defense."

The result completed the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Check out the highlights of Game 6 between the Grizzlies and Spurs

Here are the match-ups for the second round which gets underway on Sunday (seeds in brackets).

Eastern Conference
(1) Chicago Bulls v (5) Atlanta Hawks
(2) Miami Heat v (3) Boston Celtics

Western Conference
(4) Oklahoma City Thunder v (8) Memphis Grizzlies
(2) Los Angeles Lakers v (3) Dallas Mavericks

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