The Warriors' showdown with the Grizzlies is not as good as the feud between the Lakers and the Celtics, the NBA's nemesis, but it also has some origins.
In the finale of the 15-16 regular season, the hot Curry shot 10 three-pointers, slashed 46 points, led the team to a 125-104 victory over the Grizzlies, and also made the Grizzlies the "background" for the Warriors to create the best record in NBA history of 73 wins and 9 losses. In the summer of 2019, the Timberwolves traded Iguodala from the Warriors, however, Iguodala said that he would not play for the Grizzlies and missed the team's training, which caused dissatisfaction among Grizzlies players such as Morant, and Curry supported Iguodala.
In the 20-21 season, the Warriors lost to the young Grizzlies by five points in the playoffs, missing the playoffs, and Curry scored 39 points. In the regular season, after the Grizzlies beat the Warriors, Dillon Brooks taunted Iguodala for not having a vision.
These "origins" have made the Warriors and Grizzlies' Western Conference semifinals matchup attract much attention. In the first game, the Warriors narrowly won by 1 point and successfully seized the first opportunity in the series.
Losing the first game of the Western Conference Finals by one point is a pity for the young Grizzlies, but losing this game is not unjust for the Grizzlies.
With 1 minute and 18 seconds left in the second quarter, Warriors Green knocked the craker in the air down and was expelled by the referee as a level 2 malicious foul. In slow motion, it was indeed a bad foul, but Green also had a protective move. In the eyes of some, the punishment for Green's actions is a bit too severe, including NBA active players and NBA celebrities.
On his personal social media account, Trae Young wrote: "[Referees] can't award penalties against players, they should be blown according to the game itself." Magic Johnson also commented on this, he thinks the game is great, but "chasing dreams" should not be expelled.
Green's banishment in the first half of the game has a self-evident impact on the Warriors, he is the team's playoff king of the assists, steals and blocks this season, averaging 5th in the team in scoring and 2nd in rebounding, and when he was expelled in this game, he played 17 minutes and had 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. For the Grizzlies, Green's inability to play in the second half meant that the team was missing a "troublemaker" on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
In addition, with 4.6 seconds left in the game, the Grizzlies players took the ball out of bounds and were judged to be in contention, which also caused a lot of controversy.
Both the decision to oust Green and the final 4.6 seconds of scramble blowing penalty have sparked controversy, and both penalties have benefited the Grizzlies. However, the Grizzlies did not seize the opportunity to win the semi-finals "opening red".
In the regular season, the Grizzlies are the no. 1 team in the league in terms of rebounds per game. However, in this game, the Warriors made adjustments to the starting lineup compared to the previous game, put Poole on the bench, lifted Payton II to the starting lineup, further reduced the height of the team's starting lineup, and the starting center Green in the second half could not play. But in this case, the Grizzlies did not take any advantage in rebounding, and throughout the game, the Grizzlies grabbed 47 rebounds, which was 4 less than the Warriors.
Peyton II, who started the game, was only 1.91 meters, but he grabbed 6 rebounds in this game, including 4 rebounds in the frontcourt, which is full of energy. It is worth mentioning that the Warriors' bench is quite active and eye-catching in terms of rebounding and scrambling. The Warriors grabbed a total of 29 rebounds off the bench, and the Warriors and Grizzlies started with 22 and 25 rebounds, respectively, of which Pooler, Porter, Looney, and Cuminga grabbed 8, 8, 6, and 6 rebounds respectively, injecting energy into the team.
In addition, the two teams have an eye-catching data comparison: penalty area scoring. In the regular season, the Grizzlies averaged 57.5 points per game, also ranking first in the league, and the Warriors were 44.6 points, ranking 25th in the league, but in this game, the Warriors and Grizzlies scored 56 points and 44 points in the penalty area, respectively.
Despite the Warriors' overall height disadvantage, the team frantically bombarded the restricted area. Poole's one-third of the regular season shots are concentrated at 0-8 feet, and as an outside player, the shooting percentage in the area is as high as 68%. In this game, he scored 14 points in the penalty area, second highest in the game after Morant's 20 points. In addition, Wiggins, Payton II and Looney all scored 8 points in the penalty area, and Thompson scored 6 points.
The Warriors can score in the restricted area, which also makes the team good at three-pointers, 14 of 38 in this game, inferior to the Grizzlies' 40 of 16, and the free throws are also less than the Grizzlies, but the team scores 12 more points in the box than the opponent, occupying a clear advantage.
Green was expelled in the first half, and the key outside the penalty in the final quarter benefited, which undoubtedly gave the Grizzlies a chance, but the regular season ranked first in the league for rebounds and interior scores, and the Grizzlies were not as good as the Warriors this game, although they lost 1 point, but they did not lose unjustly.