A Look Back: Western Conference Semi-Finals Warriors vs. Grizzlies

In the conference semifinals, the Golden State Warriors faced their toughest opponent of the playoff thus far: the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a series that made the Warriors for the first time in a long time face adversity and got them battle tested to make a run to the finals. Let’s look back at that series and what we can learn from it.

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GAME 1 – Warriors 101 – Memphis 86

With Memphis playing without starting point guard Mike Conley, the Warriors took control early with a 32 point first quarter and never looked back playing stingy defense all night, but never quite putting it together on offense. But the Warriors did what they did all season at home: found a way to win. Stephen Curry led all scorers with 22 points. For Memphis Marc Gasol (21 points) and Zach Randolph (20 points) did their part, but no one else showed up for the Grizzlies in any meaningful way. In what would become a theme of the playoffs, Harrison Barnes had a particularly efficient night (11 points, 4-4 shooting).

GAME 2 – Warriors 90 – Memphis 97

Not many people saw this one coming: a grindout before the teams even arrived at the Grind House. Conley came back like a masked superhero to rescue the Grizzlies’ season, scoring 22 big points and playing with a pace and passion Memphis was sorely missing in game one. The Warriors for their part were out of sync all night, turning the ball over 20 times and shooting a paltry 6-26 from three. It was a recipe for disaster, especially when First-Team All Defense Tony Allen wreaks havoc all over the court (two weeks later after he prophesied it at Oracle, Allen was actually named to the NBA First-Team All-Defense. Illuminati Confirmed.)

GAME 3 – Warriors 89 – Memphis 99

Golden State carried their poor execution and shooting to the Eastern Time Zone and the Grizzlies capitalized on every Warriors mistake to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Like game two, the Warriors shot terribly from beyond the arc and were never in their flow. Randolph and Gasol dominated, while Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut combined for 8 points. Curry was especially inefficient, needing 21 shots to get to 23 points. If being tied 1-1 was adversity, trailing 2-1 was on the edge of disaster.

GAME 4 – Warriors 101 – Memphis 84

And then finally, the Golden State Warriors arrived. Curry and the rest of the Warriors turned up the intensity to a level befitting of the playoffs, anchoring down on D and shooting much better from the field. A defensive alignment change, no doubt concocted by mad scientist assistant coach Ron Adams had Bogut “guarding” Tony Allen on the wing. Bogut wouldn’t venture more than a few feet out of the paint, with the Warriors daring Allen to beat them from outside. He couldn’t, allowing Bogut to play free safety and help on any action in the paint. Allen only played 16 minutes in the game, and his defense that had been so crucial in disrupting the Warriors was stuck on the bench.

GAME 5 – Warriors 98 – Memphis 78

All series Memphis proved they were a great defensive team, this was the game the Warriors proved they were a better defensive team. Holding the Grizzlies to a series low 78 points, Memphis at stretches could not buy a basket, and the Warriors forced the Grizzlies in to shooting contested shots all night. Tony Allen wasn’t this time relegated to the bench because of poor shooting, he was out of the game with a hamstring injury and Klay Thompson feasted with a team-hight 21 points.

The Memphis bench provided no help to the starters, scoring 16 points between the lot of them, which was canceled out by the 16 big points that Andre Iguodala scored by himself. It again wasn’t the Warriors’ best offensive night, but when you play championship defense and have the Splash Brothers, you’ll usually find a way to win. Analysts during the series kept saying that Memphis needed to score at least 100 points to have a chance of beating the Warriors, it wasn’t looking good for the Griz when they couldn’t even crack 80.

GAME 6 – Warriors 108 – Memphis 95

In a game the Warriors won by 13, it was a three-quarters court shot that firmly cemented the momentum of Golden State heading in to the fourth quarter. We have all seen Curry bury a shot from the hallway before each home game, but this heave at the buzzer was a backbreaker of the season ending variety. Though the Warriors got out to an early lead, the Grizzlies clawed back each step of the way, and without that three from Curry, they only trail by 5 heading in to the fourth. But swish – and fifteen minutes later – series.

PLAYER OF THE SERIES

It’s easy to take Curry here and not look back, but without the versatility on offense and defense of Harrison Barnes, I’m not sure the Warriors win this series. He was never the leading scorer, but he was both consistent and efficient, while defending Zach Randolph allowing Bogut to free roam the paint. Barnes is the Swiss Army Knife for this team and he proved his worth against Memphis.

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