Tony Allen and Mike Conley must bounce back. (Joe Murphy/NBA/Getty Images)

For most of the first 45 minutes of Sunday's Game 1, the Memphis Grizzlies controlled the pace, the style and the action of their Western Conference semifinals opening matchup with the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. But in those final few minutes, it all went away, seemingly quicker than a Kevin Durant rise-and-fire that puts you behind and, eventually, away for good. It must feel like climbing a mountain and find yourself one last push from the summit, then losing your foothold and falling all the way down to the ground below.

"Every player on our team saw this win, and it didn't happen," Grizzlies reserve Quincy Pondexter, who missed a key late fourth-quarter free throw that could have enabled Memphis to tie the game in the closing seconds, told Jeff Latzke of The Associated Press after Game 1. "So, you've just got to move on and not make the same mistakes twice."

But what mistakes are those, specifically? How can Memphis find surer footing and finish the job in Tuesday's Game 2? Let's take a closer look at a few particular areas of interest:

Hey, remember when Houston Rockets center Omer Asik got called for what appeared to be a pretty dubious offensive foul during the second quarter of Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder? Of course you do! (Remember how I tried to change the name "Thabo Sefolosha" to "Kevin Martin" in the post after being informed that I had 100 percent misidentified the second OKC flopper, only to find that the change didn't take in our publishing system, so it seems like it's going to stay wrong and haunt me forever? Of course you don't!)

In the event you've somehow forgotten the play since the Thunder dispatched the Rockets and moved on to a second-round matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, refresh your memory:

Well, it seems the NBA didn't forget about it, announcing Monday evening that it has fined Thunder guard Derek Fisher $5,000 for violating the league's anti-flopping policy. I'm not entirely sure why it took that long for Stu Jackson and company to mete out their hot brand of discipline, but the delivery of justice, even when delayed, enhances and emboldens us all.

Kent Bazemore's closeout is just a little late. (D. Clarke Evans/NBA/Getty Images)

We've already talked quite a bit about the game-winning 3-pointer that Manu Ginobili nailed in double overtime to push the San Antonio Spurs past the Golden State Warriors to a 1-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinals series. Let's let three people involved in the play talk about it in their own words, thanks to the great Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News:

Ginobili on the play that led to his game-winning shot, which came after he'd missed his last seven shots and gone 4 for 19 to that point: "I wasn't even an option. They told me to go screen and stay far away from the play."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on how his feelings toward Ginobili changed before and after the shot: "I went from trading him on the spot to wanting to cook him breakfast tomorrow."

Elbower and elbowee. (CHCI.org/Getty Images)

When you love playing basketball, you're eventually going to catch a stray shot in the midst of some physical play — even if you're the President of the United States. Barack Obama suffered the sting back in 2010, when a Thanksgiving weekend pickup run resulted in an elbow to the chops and a split lip that required 12 stitches.

We know getting chin-checked hasn't stopped POTUS from playing pickup, but we never really knew much about the guy who touched him up beyond his name and where he worked — Reynaldo Decerega of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. After the incident, Decerega implored the press to respect his privacy because, he says, “I didn’t want that to define my life.” Now, though, he's apparently totally cool with talking about it, and did so at length with Stan Grossfeld of the Boston Globe:

“I felt horrible,” said Decerega. “I’ve played basketball a million times in my life and I’ve never elbowed anybody. So the first time I do this, it’s to the President of the United States? What is the probability of that? Nil, right?”

Well, apparently not.

After trailing the Golden State Warriors by as many as 18 and facing a 104-88 deficit with 4:31 remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, the San Antonio Spurs ripped off a remarkable 18-2 run to tie the game and force overtime. As our Eric Freeman related overnight, the Spurs went on to win the game, 129-127, after two extra sessions, on the strength of a Manu Ginobili 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining in double overtime.

It was a thrilling, exhilarating conclusion to a game that had once seemed out of reach, and Spurs fans were understandably super amped up throughout the late stages, as San Antonio mounted its comeback by making buckets and forcing Warriors misses. Especially this one fan, whose excitement (as picked up clear as a bell by TNT's broadcast) reached a fever pitch in the final minute of regulation, after Spurs guard Danny Green hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 106 and Warriors star Stephen Curry was unable to answer:

[Also: Manu

Chicago Bulls guard Marco Belinelli was fined $15,000 for "making an obscene gesture" during his team's 99-93 win in Game 7 of its opening-round playoff series with the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA announced through its weirdly protected Twitter account on Monday afternoon.

The gesture in question came with just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday's Game 7, after Belinelli hit a huge 3-pointer to give the Bulls a 91-81 lead:

Yep, that's right — the NBA just fined the Italian guard 15 large for paying tribute to Sam Cassell by intimating that he, too, possesses sizable testes.

Belinelli scored a critical 24 points on 8 for 14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds in 41 minutes of floor time in Chicago's Game 7 win. He's expected to once again start in the backcourt when Tom Thibodeau's Bulls take on the defending champion Miami Heat in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup on Monday.

1. More like Most Vulnerable Player.

2. The refs didn't call a foul on the cameraman because he went straight up; while Carmelo Anthony argued for a call, David West got wide open for another dunk. (It didn't count, because the game was already over.)

3. Can't wait to see the NBA's Phantom camera footage of smacking into Anthony's shoulder. I bet it's at least as fascinating as the Phantom clip of LeBron getting his MVP trophy.

If the clip above isn't rocking for you, feel free to check out the whoops elsewhere, thanks to NBAshowtimeHD.

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Kevin Durant knocked down a huge 19-foot pull-up jump shot to give his Oklahoma City Thunder a 91-90 lead over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies with 11.1 seconds remaining in Game 1 of the two teams' Western Conference semifinals matchup at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday. The Thunder would hold onto the lead their superstar provided, locking down a 93-91 win to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Durant's transition opportunity was keyed by a miscue from Memphis point guard Mike Conley, who lost control of the ball while driving to the basket with just under 20 seconds remaining and the Grizzlies holding a one-point lead. After Conley ceded possession, with Thunder guard Derek Fisher getting credit for a steal on the play, Durant snagged the loose ball and pushed it up the court; while Oklahoma City still had two timeouts remaning, coach Scott Brooks declined to call one, preferring to allow Durant to attack the Grizzlies before their stout defense could regroup in a half-court setting. The decision proved to be a wise one, as Durant was able to push retreating defender Tayshaun Prince back on his heels, stop on a dime just above the right elbow, elevate and fire to put the Thunder back in front for the first time since holding a 49-48 advantage just after halftime.

[Also: Reasons why Grizzlies will knock out top-seeded Thunder]

The jumper capped a 12-point fourth quarter for Durant, who led all scorers with 35 points on 13 for 26 shooting on Sunday, but it didn't cap Game 1. After a timeout called by Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins, Memphis trigged the ball from the right sideline with a chance to re-take the lead, but Durant tipped the inbounds pass; it did find its intended target, center Marc Gasol, but Durant's defense threw a monkey wrench into Memphis' design.

Gasol then missed a window to feed frontcourt partner Zach Randolph down low, passed up a shot