Warriors: Losing Gary Payton II dims a hopefully run to NBA Finals

The No. 3-seeded Golden State Warriors had inserted shooting guard Gary Payton II into the starting lineup for the first two games of the team’s second-round series with the No. 2-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.

Payton II is arguably the team’s best on-ball defender, and he is easily the quickest defender the Warriors have, typically being placed on the team’s best scorer. He had finally found his NBA home and started to thrive.

Gary Payton II fractured his elbow in a dirty play by Dillon Brooks. Now, even if they get through Memphis, the Warriors’ NBA Finals’ dreams will be dimmer.

This series, he drew the Ja Morant assignment, forcing Morant into a difficult left-handed layup in Game 1 which bricked off the backboard and led to a Warriors win. Morant scored 47 points in Game 2 with Payton out more than 80% of the game.

Payton II had a breakaway and was fouled on a play that Steve Kerr didn’t hold back on, calling Dillon Brooks foul “dirty” among other words the championship coach used. Kerr also said that Brooks “broke the code” in his postgame press conference.

Here’s the play.

Payton II made the Grizzlies feel his presence in Game 1, and following the Warriors’ one-point win, I wrote about how Payton II was the team’s most underappreciated player. After all, he could do stuff like this.

https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1520858045806518273?s=20&t=CIwtUVnuVOFk6L-KoP9YPA

The play by Brooks resulted in a fractured left elbow. With an MRI on the way, we’ll get a better picture of his injury and what it means moving forward, but this is obviously devastating news for the Warriors.

Payton’s impact is going to stretch further than this game or even this series. He was going to be instrumental in the team’s game plan against the Suns as their top two playmakers are in the backcourt as well.

In Game 1, Payton II’s four offensive rebounds were huge along with his defense on Morant. He ended the game with 8 points on 4-for-5 shooting, both of which were necessary for the Dubs to come out of Memphis with at least one win.

Payton was a +1 in his minutes in Game 1, and the Warriors won by 1. His absence is going to be felt moving forward, and the headwinds that it creates are not going to be easy for the Warriors to get through.