In a game full of confrontation and injury, the Grizzlies won thrillingly.
In terms of the game alone, there were a few turning points: Dillon was sent off, Payton Jr. was injured, and Jaren Jackson Jr. struggled with foul trouble throughout the game.
For the Warriors, the more unfortunate news is that Payton Jr. was declared to have fractured his left elbow and his return date is undecided. This is the Warriors' best defensive speed guard. It can also be seen from this game that after Payton Jr., the Grizzlies Morant seized this opportunity very well, constantly challenging the Warriors' defense with speed and directional breakthroughs, breaking through the layup on the left side, turning around and throwing from mid-range, creating free throw opportunities, and everything.
Returning to the Chase Center with the advantage of winning the next away game, the psychological advantage of the series is still on the Warriors' side. The strengths and weaknesses they showed in the first two games were also obvious.
Doesn't work? The Warriors' three-pointer problem
It's hard to imagine the Warriors shooting so their way to the championship.
In this game, the Warriors' three-point shooting rate was 18.4%, setting a new record for a single playoff in team history. On the outside, they shot 7-of-38 in total.
When the Warriors, with the Splash Brothers as the cornerstone, the Three-Pointer Feature played this kind of performance on the outside. As you can imagine, the game will become very passive. After the opening, Jalen Jr. and Morant each hit a three-pointer to show their attitude. Throughout the game, facing the Grizzlies' outside offense, it was difficult for the Warriors to respond in a timely and effective manner.
A pitcher's cold feel is usually not a big problem, and there is no immediate solution. But Klay Thompson may have to calculate that in the regular season, Thompson's characteristics of a few games are obvious. By the playoffs, it still didn't change. In the first game, his hand caught the Warriors a little off guard, but he hit a crucial three-pointer in the final moment.
Memphis fought again, Klay Thompson felt cold in the whole game, only 5 shots in 19 shots, including 2 of 12 three-pointers, many offensive options to consider, and forced the defender to shoot in the case of bad hand. Shoot more than Poole.
At the peak of the Warriors, their fault tolerance rate was large enough, and Tang Shen has always been this unreasonable offensive choice. But by 2022, the Warriors' roster is closer to reasonable, and in the case that the gap in strength is not large enough, continuous unreasonable shots are obviously dangerous.
Scramble for rebounds
Playing badly on three-pointers, the Warriors were able to play the Grizzlies to the end, thanks to excellent rebounding and protection.
In the last game, Jarren Jr.'s body advantage and feel simply gave the Warriors a heavy blow. The Warriors' interior defense has always been a more gambling on the opposite configuration, if it is a tall, offensively comprehensive interior player, there is basically no good way. When encountering the Nuggets in the first round, they can only adopt the mode of letting Jokic play unlimited singles to limit other teammates.
In this game, the Warriors' advantage is that Jalen Jr. has made a mistake of not being meticulous enough and playing too much to jump, so that he has encountered foul trouble early and cannot play at full strength.
Most of the time, the Grizzlies' interior line was Clark carrying.
As the top pillar of the Grizzlies' inner line, Clark is only 2 meters 03, and this body advantage is not enough. Clarke's strength is that he is athletic and bouncy fast enough to easily punish when he receives the ball deep enough.
But with Clark playing for a long time, the Warriors are not out of position. Wiggins is also of similar stature, athleticism and even better speed, with Wiggins' card slot and high point competition, the Warriors' second offense scored 20 points, 10 points more than the Grizzlies.
In the second rebound, it is also the Warriors who have the advantage. Among them, Wiggins alone grabbed 5 frontcourt rebounds, which is the best contributor to the Warriors' performance in the secondary offensive field.
Against the Grizzlies, the Warriors also have a chance to grab a physical advantage
That's the trick the Warriors have to save the suspense of victory until the end, and they're not helpless after missing a three-pointer. And when the familiar three-point offense returns, they have a better chance of winning.
In the game, the Warriors' backcourt is usually two of the Splash Brothers and Poole, and the frontcourt, when they rotate with Wiggins, Porter, Green and Cumminga, can also take a small advantage in talent against the Grizzlies.
This talent advantage can also be reflected in the high-level statistics, Clark's plus-minus this game is minus 17, when the Warriors put up a set of defense, athleticism and vitality of the frontcourt, the Grizzlies unless the little Jalen risked being sent off the court for a long time, otherwise it is easy to lose on the lineup.
The Splash Tea Brothers are tough enough in attack, but Poole is often treated as a defensive shortcoming. And if the Warriors didn't choose to take out the three brothers at the same time, then Cuminga's athletic ability is enough to cause some trouble for the Grizzlies.
For the Warriors, the real trouble is the defensive problem after Payton Jr. left the game. The game proved that Wiggins' center of gravity is higher and more suitable for defending the basket or against the front line, and Morant has already scored 47 points in this game, and the Warriors limit Morant's strongest lock can no longer play.