Warriors rebound their way to Western Conference Finals

The Golden State Warriors needed to rebound from a historically shocking game five performance, and well, rebound they did. The Warriors, often known for their small-ball lineups, had the most rebounds in a playoff game (that’s league-wide) since 1983.

The Golden State Warriors have reached their sixth Western Conference Finals in 8 seasons, defeating the Grizzlies 110-96 on the back of 70 team rebounds.

The Warriors needed to buy into a more defined style in game six, following an unsuccessful experiment with rookie Jonathan Kuminga in the starting lineup. That they did, with stand-in coach Mike Brown revealing after the game that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green had chosen Kevon Looney to return to the opening unit.

Looney responded to the faith shown, obliterating his previous career-high in rebounds set earlier this season.

His 22 included 11 offensive rebounds, opening up valuable second chance opportunities that ultimately propelled the Warriors to victory. In producing his career-best game to date, the 26-year-old joined some exclusive company.

It wasn’t just Looney who was dominant on the boards though.

After losing the rebounding battle for the first time this series in game five, it was clearly a concerted effort from all five of the Warriors starters. Draymond Green finished with 15 and Andrew Wiggins 11, while the backcourt splash brothers also combined for 15.

The 70 boards included 25 offensive, with the Warriors needing every single one in a game that still very much went down to the wire. When Desmond Bane hit a three with just under seven minutes remaining, the Grizzlies had a two-point lead at 89-87.

Until that point, Golden State’s rebounding had been offset by more significant turnover woes. There was clearly an emphasis on returning to their quicker style of play, but that often spilled over to reckless, high-risk passes that culminated in 17 turnovers.

Still, they took greater care of the ball in the final minutes, with Curry coming alive offensively after a below-par game to that point. The dagger came on another offensive rebound from Looney, who then fed Klay Thompson’s three which gave the Warriors a 105-92 lead with three minutes left.

Game 6 Klay was well and truly on show, his eight threes and 30 points leading a Warriors team who otherwise shot less than 40% from the floor. The poor shooting and turnovers were certainly a worry moving forward, but the rebounding edge proved enough in this one.

Golden State will now sit back and await the result of the Phoenix Suns-Dallas Mavericks series, with the teams tied at 3-3 ahead of game seven in Phoenix tomorrow.