In the Western Conference semifinals, the Warriors faced the Grizzlies.
Seven years ago, it was also these two teams, and in the second round, the Warriors eliminated the Grizzlies in six games and eventually reached the top of the championship, starting a five-year dynasty era of consecutive Finals and triple crowns.
In seven years, the Grizzlies have already turned the world upside down, but the Warriors still have the "original taste" of the year, although they have also experienced vicissitudes.
The last time he played the Grizzlies in the playoffs, Curry was already an MVP, but he had only been in the NBA for six years, and he could only be regarded as a Mesozoic, a challenger in the playoffs, facing the inability of guard pitchers to lead the team to success, and the jumper team could not withstand the doubts of the playoffs.
That is, from that year on, Curry began the journey of stars and team terminators, all the way under the back of the beheaders, was sent out of the playoffs, a star, was scattered a team.
Curry's first opponent in the 2015 playoffs was Anthony Davis, who played the playoffs for the first time, averaging 31.5 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, which was quite explosive, but Curry averaged 33.8 points per game, and the third and fourth games combined 79 points, leading the team to sweep the Pelicans.
The thick-browed brother played twice in the Pelicans, losing to Curry in 2015 and losing to Curry in 2018. Curry sprained his left knee that year and missed the last 10 games of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, and did not return until the second game of the Western Conference semifinals against the Pelicans, scoring 28 points in the bench for 27 minutes, and the series finished with an offensive output of 24.5 points per game with a three-point shooting rate of 44%, and the Warriors repelled the Pelicans 4-1.
A year later, Brother Thick Brow went to the Lakers.
Thick eyebrows are still lucky in a sense, after all, after arriving at the Lakers, they won the championship, which is also an indirect breakthrough in the shadow cast by Curry. Also in 2015, when he began to "fight against courage", Harden had much worse luck. In the 2015 Western Conference Finals, Curry averaged 31.2 points per game, led the team to solve the Rockets in 5 games, harden left a record in the fifth game that has never been seen before, 12 mistakes in a single game!
Starting in 2015, Harden was full of tears in the Rockets' and Curry's game, and in the first round of 2016, Curry only played two games with a right knee injury, but the Warriors still kicked the Rockets out 4-1, and that series was the final chapter of the "Morden Combination", Curry and the Warriors "forcibly demolished" the Rockets' envisioned championship partner.
In 2018, Harden's helper became Paul, the Rockets and the Warriors will meet in the West Final, that is Harden's closest chance to win Curry in the playoffs, the Rockets climbed the King's Mountain in the fifth game, only one win can beat the Warriors, but the Rockets seem to run out of luck, Paul hamstring injury truce, the Rockets lost two consecutive games, grabbed seven consecutive three-point shots 27 times, the Warriors pulled two consecutive sets to make the Rockets stop in the Western Conference Finals.
The 2018 Western Conference Finals defeat caused a rift in the "Light bulb combination" partnership, when the Rockets played the Warriors again in the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, there was no need to play the seventh game, although Durant missed the sixth game due to injury, but Curry extinguished the "light bulb" with a 23-point performance in the fourth quarter, Paul was traded to the Thunder in the offseason, and Curry broke up a pair of stars.
What about "Mo Deng" and "Light Bulb" that were dismantled by Curry, how can we forget Du Shao and Wei Shao? In the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the Thunder led 3-1 after 4 games, and the double eyes were about to send the 73-win Warriors to fish, but they were unexpectedly turned over three innings in a row, and the sixth Game Tang Shen made the boss kneel in a three-point show, grabbing seven knee injuries Curry scored 36 points in the fourth quarter and 15 points to win.
That summer, Durant chose the "toughest" path and went to the Warriors to join forces with Curry.
In the 2016 playoffs, Curry not only broke up the "Morden" and the doubles, but also began to impose a spell on Lillard that "the playoffs must be defeated", that year's second round Curry missed the first three games because of a knee injury, the fourth comeback from the bench, and then he scored 40 points! Returning to the starters in game five, Curry had 29 points and 11 assists to send Lillard to the summer break.
In the first round a year later, the Warriors fought against the Blazers, Curry averaged 29.8 points per game, 34 and 37 points in the third and fourth games, respectively, and the Warriors lost four straight clean sheets to the Blazers. In the 2019 Western Conference Finals, Curry played 35+ in four consecutive games, averaging 36.5 points per game, once again leading Lillard and the Blazers 4-0. Lillard and Curry have played a total of 10 games in the playoffs, and Lillard has lost all of them, which is somewhat psychologically shadowy.
The same player Curry played back and forth in the playoffs was James, who was also born in Akron City Hospital. Janku has played against each other in the Finals for four consecutive years, with Curry winning three of them and James winning once, but that was a 1-3 reversal.
The Janku Finals are their peaks and their own lows. After losing the 2015 Finals, James was so frustrated that he said, "I'd rather not make the playoffs than lose the Finals." The 2016 Finals were overturned, and Curry removed the gauze in the locker room, looking at his swollen right knee and burst into tears.
In the 2017 Finals, Curry won back the championship, that series was the last cooperation between James and Irving, Irving forced the palace to transfer, James asked the Cavaliers boss to ask for retention, but the boss proposed that the old Zhan first extend the contract to 2018 and then talk, James had to give up. In the first game of the 2018 Finals, James's 51-point performance was buried by a key mistake by JR Smith, the old Jan smashed the tactical board after the game, causing the palm of his hand to be broken, the Cavaliers were eventually swept by the Warriors, Curry scored 37 points in the championship game, personally ending James's Cavaliers 2.0 era.
Since 2015, Curry's identity in basketball has changed, he was first a challenger, then a defender, and now a guardian. Janduku represents an era of basketball, where only Curry is the only one of the big three who continues his journey in the playoffs, and he led the team to beat out the Mesozoic MVP Jokic in the first round, writing a new name in the star column sent away in the playoffs.
Next, Curry has to face the challenge of the new generation, and Morant is in front of him.
The Warriors' Western Conference semifinals against the Grizzlies were a feud. The two teams have only met once before in the playoffs, and that was the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals. At that time, the Grizzlies were still in the era of "grinding and strangulation", Gasol Jr. and Randolph formed a twin tower, the outside line had Conley and Tony Allen and other tough players, the first three games of the series, the Grizzlies with a strong defense to take a 2-1 lead, the Warriors fell into trouble.
Assistant coach Adams made a suggestion to Kerr after watching the video, Tony Allen is the Grizzlies' best outside defender, but his projection ability is terrible, the Warriors should send a center to defend him, not close to the box do not have to watch, it is not too late to kill the basket and then fortify, so that the center can go to assist the Grizzlies players with stronger offensive firepower.
The trick worked, Tony Allen was let go again and again, couldn't shoot again and again, the Grizzlies couldn't use him normally, the fourth game only played 16 minutes, the fifth game simply did not let go, the sixth game was less than 6 minutes, but the Grizzlies lacked Tony Allen and damaged the defense, the result was that the Warriors chased three consecutive innings to eliminate the Grizzlies, Curry contributed 32 points and 10 assists in the sixth game, and 13 points in the fourth quarter to kill the series.
That series was the last time the Grizzlies played the second round before the season.
After the second round of the 2015 game, the Warriors and the Grizzlies didn't intersect much until the 2019 deal sparked again. The Warriors traded Iguodala to the Grizzlies in order to meet the salary space conditions of signing Russell with Durant. Iguodala did not report to the Grizzlies, hoping to be bought out to join a stronger team, but the offer of an 85% buyout based on salary ($17 million) was rejected, and the Grizzlies had just changed management at the time and did not want to pay for reinforcements to other teams, so the two sides reached a stalemate.
Iguodala's disdain for the Grizzlies made the players very unhappy, and Dillon Brooks publicly said that he would quickly trade Iguodala so that he could have a good fight with him in the game and let him see the strength of the Grizzlies. Morant, who was still a rookie at the time, praised Brooks's remarks on social media, accompanied by a "loud appeal" expression. Curry stood up in solidarity with his old friend and posted a photo of Iguodala holding the championship trophy on social media, accompanied by a "gag" expression, and Morant quickly hit back, posting a photo of Durant holding the Finals MVP trophy, with "silence" and "shrugging" expressions.
Finals MVP, Curry's honor pain points, Morant is really damned.
It wasn't enough, and Morant also completed the kill in the game. In the 2021 playoffs, Morant scored 35 points with two throws in overtime to establish the victory, and Curry's 39 points became an empty cut.
In the 2021-22 regular season, the Grizzlies won 3-1 against the Warriors, and the Western Conference ranking also overwhelmed the Warriors, Brooks once again talked about the Iguodala incident, mocking Iguodala for not having a vision, Jalen Jackson Jr. posted "Unity of Purpose" on Twitter, which was once the Warriors' playoff slogan, and Morant said after defeating the Warriors that the Grizzlies did not get enough respect, and they wanted to prove their strength by winning the Warriors.
Curry quickly responded to Morant's claims, giving a fiery statement. "You have to show your strength in the playoffs, and there's no point in talking fast now." Curry said.
Who is stronger, the playoffs have the final say. The Warriors and Grizzlies will once again meet in the Western Conference semifinals, it will be a multi-dimensional contest, Curry and Morant as the main attackers who can play a better explosive game, Klay and Poole, Bane and Brooks, the two groups of secondary attackers who can give stronger fire support, chasing dreams and Jalen Jr. who can come up with a better defensive performance, Kerr and Jenkins' fighting style is also Mars splashing, both coaches have launched five small lineups in the first round, how will the second round of rotation be deployed, see what kind of tricks will be done?
Warriors are more experienced and Grizzlies are more aggressive. The Warriors were the most efficient offensive team in the first round, while the Grizzlies were the most defensively efficient of the Western Conference playoff teams. The Warriors have the most accurate three-pointers and the Grizzlies have the most points in the penalty area. The Warriors and Grizzlies each have their own strengths, and this series will be able to play out their strengths and avoid weaknesses. In the Grizzlies' favor, they have one more home.
Whether Curry adds another player to his list of eliminated stars, or whether Morant's only finish of the playoffs of the big three that represents the league over the past decade will come up with the answer.