MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Kevin Durant insisted the Thunder facing elimination was all the motivation he needed. Thanks to the NBAs best scorer, the Thunder remain alive and can finish off the Memphis Grizzlies back in Oklahoma City. Durant scored 36 points to break out of a slump, and the Thunder routed the Grizzlies 104-84 on Thursday night to force a deciding seventh game in the first-round Western Conference series. His performance came on a day where the hometown newspaper questioned his struggles with a headline calling him "Mr. Unreliable." "We needed to win this game," Durant said. "Thats more motivation than anything, so our team responded. Weve got to do an even better job in Game 7." Russell Westbrook added 25 points for the Thunder, who havent been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs since 2010. They took control early with Durant scoring 14 points in the first quarter, led by 15 at halftime and never let Memphis get that close again in the second half in the first game in the series that didnt go to overtime since the opener. "You dont get to his level as an NBA player and a great player as he is to have other people motivate you," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "Hes self-motivated. Hes a tremendous kid and does everything for his team, for our organization. Were proud of him because he gives everything he has. That was the only focus for tonights game." Durant also had 10 rebounds and made 14 of 15 free throws. Reggie Jackson had 16 points off the bench for the Thunder, who will host Game 7 on Saturday night. Grizzlies guard Tony Allen said the Thunder simply wanted the game more and called the loss embarrassing in front of a sellout crowd. "Now, weve shot ourselves in the foot, and we have to go to a hostile environment now and pretty much show where our heart is at," Allen said. Marc Gasol had 17 points and Zach Randolph 16 for Memphis. Guard Mike Conley strained his right hamstring, briefly returned and left for good with 8:48 left. Conley went down in the third quarter near midcourt dribbling when Kendrick Perkins reached in for a steal. The Memphis guard returned briefly, but Conley was limping noticeably. With the Thunder in control, Conley went to the locker room again and didnt return. Nick Calathes currently is suspended for violating the NBAs anti-drug policy, leaving Memphis with only Beno Udrih at point guard. Memphis coach Dave Joerger said Udrih will play a lot of minutes if Conley cant. Conley said he will be re-evaluated Friday and receive as much treatment as possible before tipoff Saturday. "I plan on playing," Conley said. Durant had to answer questions after the shootaround Thursday about that headline in The Oklahoman newspaper. Durant said he had no problem with the headline and that he just needed to hit shots and be more aggressive. Smiling just before tipoff, Durant did just that. The man who led the NBA scoring 32 points a game during the regular season opened by hitting five of his first seven and finished 11 of 23 from the floor. He continued to struggle outside the arc where he missed all six of his attempts. The Grizzlies had a chance to advance to their third semifinal in four years on their own floor. Yet they couldnt shoot well or match the Thunders intensity with a sloppy performance in front of a sellout crowd that tried to energize the Grizzlies. Oklahoma City outrebounded Memphis 47-36 and easily outshot them 49.3 per cent (37 of 75) to 37.3 per cent (31 of 83). "We knew sooner or later our shots would fall," Brooks said. Brooks also benched Thabo Sefolosha and started Caron Butler. "This is why you play the game to prove doubters wrong, and adversity builds character," Butler said. "This team has a strong character and a will." Memphis last led 6-4. A team that thrives off defence, the Grizzlies couldnt knock down shots even when they managed to get consecutive stops. The Grizzlies got to 42-37 with 3:08 left on a steal and fast-break layup by Conley. The Thunder finished the half with a 14-4 run for a 56-41 lead. The Grizzlies missed their first six shots to open the third quarter, finishing any hopes of a comeback. James Johnson scored 15 points off the bench for Memphis, and Allen added 13. Notes: This will be the second Game 7 between the teams in four years. Oklahoma City beat Memphis in seven in the 2011 conference semifinals. ... The Grizzlies are 4-1 with a chance to close out a series. ... Steven Adams blocked a career-high five shots off the bench for the Thunder. Cheap Replica Shoes China . Arsenal had already scored its goals in the third round fixture when the fierce rivalry turned ugly in the final ten minutes as Walcott was being carried off on a stretcher. Cheap Shoes China Free Shipping . -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are tightening the race for second place in the Atlantic Division. http://www.wholesaleshoes.us.org/. Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. Replica Shoes Wholesale China . So much so that even a simple foul pop up to the first baseman turned into a run. Houstons four-run rally in the ninth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Monday night was capped by a bizarre play that started as Crowe fouled out to first baseman Justin Smoak with runners on second and third. Replica Shoes Wholesale . -- Canadas Nicole Vandermade won the Four Winds Invitational on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory.At 80, Don Cherry still hasnt run out of stories, as his new book Straight Up & Personal shows. But he doesnt get to share them with Ron MacLean as much these days.The two are spending less time together, with MacLean busy with his Hometown Hockey duties.In his book, subtitled The World According to Grapes, Cherry fondly reminisces about their road trips and bucket of beer, six apiece, on ice after Hockey Night in Canada sessions.When things went wrong on the set of Hockey Night in Canada, and it happens a lot, when I would be in a tantrum, Ron would hold up six fingers, meaning six cold ones waiting in the (hotel) room, and I would say, Youre right and calm down, Cherry writes.Popcorn for MacLean, peanuts for Cherry, a game on the TV and a chin wag. Sometimes heated, mostly fun times.Such social time is at a premium now.We do Coachs Corner and then hes gone, Cherry said in a recent interview. So it has changed, I must admit.Before we used to sit together and watch every game ... every Saturday wed sit together for three hours. Sometimes now we dont sit together for two minutes, he added.Traditionally the two have shared Saturday nights and the playoffs together.We dont know what were going to do in the playoffs this year, Cherry said. But in the playoffs, were together from April 8 until June 19 every other day. You do get close, you cant help but get close.Otherwise, Cherry says not much has changed under the new Rogers broadcast regime although he doesnt see the other fellow hockey analysts because they are on a separate set.Its not quite the same because we were all together there before. But I have to admit theyve never told me what to do. I dont think they quite understand me quite the same but theyre never come and said You cant do this, you cant do that.I had a problem with them at the start about the time, as you saw ... They were a little upset over that.Its Cherrys fourth book, but first that he has written alone. Grapes: A Vintage View of Hockey, was written with Stan Fischler while he collaborated with Al Strachan on Don Cherrys Hockey Stories and Stuff and Don Cherrys Hockey Stories, Part II.Cherry wrote this one longhand, often in the middle of the night, starting last fall. An irregular sleeper, he would find himself up at 3:30 in the morning and start writing.I had a grand time doing it, he said.Straight Up & Personal covers a lot of ground, including a painful gout-ridden expedition to Afghanistan (he credits comedian Jimmy Mac for getting him through it) and his stint in Sochi, which left him praising the Russians.It opens with a near-death experience two years ago in the St. Lawrence River when Cherry had to be rescued after his canoe tipped over.I oftenn wake up at night thinking of that water pouring into the canoe, said Cherry, who says he will never go on the water again without a life jacket.ddddddddddddIt also lays out Cherrys peripatetic minor-league career with special attention on his time under Eddie Shore in the American Hockey Leagues Springfield — the Alcatraz of Hockey.Years later, Brian Kilrea told Cherrys daughter Cindy what Shore had said when he was asked about the animosity.Cherry never said a word back, but that look of insolence on his face said it all, said Kilrea, quoting Shore.Cherry paid dearly for that expression. He says he was singled out and harassed on and off the ice, calling his time in Springfield torture.I went from Lord Fauntleroy and left, I think, as Attila the Hun, he said. I really toughed up in those three years. I found out the world is very cruel.And I had an attitude for almost the rest of my life after that — youre not going to get me. I walked in there as a babe in the woods. It taught me what life is really about. Youve got to be tough.Viewers may not know that Cherry spent time in camp with the Leafs. As a minor leaguer, we were treated terrible in Toronto, he recalled. Really bad.Cherry also relates how he got his start in coaching. Retired from playing, he worked construction for two years until he was laid off. A friend, Bob Clarke, asked him to coach a high school team in Rochester.He didnt want to do it, but accepted after realizing he had nothing else to do.Thats where I learned to change lines, he said. That eventually led to a coaching job with the Rochester Americans, where Clarke was a co-owner, and Cherry was on his way.Cherry remains a Canadian icon, with a 1993 Ford F-150 pickup and a 1983 Lincoln in his modest garage. Today he cannot walk through an airport without being stopped for pictures and autographs.But he remembers when times were tough. Once asked what his greatest fear was, he replied unemployment.The feeling when youre unemployed, you think everybodys against you. You start thinking that youre less than a man because everybody else is working ... Dark clouds come into your mind when you cant get a job, I tell you.I often wonder, boy, how lucky I was. Cherry says he had fun writing this book but it will be his last.I like to leave it having a lot of fun. Thats the big thing. Its like Coachs Corner. As soon as Coachs Corner is not a lot of fun, then I wont do it.So far so good, on that score.They leave me alone and thats why its fun, he said. As soon as people start telling me what to do and stuff like that, then it wont be fun.— Straight Up & Personal, by Don Cherry, Doubleday Canada, 195 pages, $29.95---Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter ' ' '