With the Golden State Warriors losing their last game of the regular season in brutal fashion to the Los Angeles Clippers, they were relegated the seventh-seed in the Western Conference, forcing them into a dreaded play-in scenario against the Memphis Grizzlies.
If they win, they will move on to face the upstart Houston Rockets in the first round -- a potentially favorable matchup despite the outcome of the teams' recent bout. If they lose however, they will have to play the winner of the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings for a chance to play the behemoth Oklahoma City Thunder.
Therefore, for all intents and purposes, this is a must-win game for the Warriors, and one crucial stat shows why they have a great shot at ending their fans' anxiety quickly.
Warriors play well against fast-paced teams
Led by dynamic young guard Ja Morant, the Grizzlies have had plenty of their own turmoil this season, with their front office firing head coach Taylor Jenkins just weeks before the end of the regular season.
Over the past month, Memphis has plummeted from a top-four seed into the Play-In and have subsequently drew the ire of their fanbase. Yet their dynamic offense has persisted through this rough stretch, with the team's 121.7 points per game placing them firmly second in the NBA in that category, trailing only the historic Cleveland Cavaliers.
This is driven mostly by the speed at which they play the game. Out of all 30 teams, the Grizzlies have the highest pace, a stat that measures possessions per 48 minutes of play. Intuitively, this should make them a difficult matchup for the Warriors, who with their aging roster and fatigued core, should struggle against teams that play at a blistering pace.
Yet apart from a mid-season blowout at the hands of the Grizzlies and a loss against the Atlanta Hawks in Stephen Curry's brief absence due to a hip contusion, the Warriors have easily handled all of these teams, even going 2-1 against the one-seed Thunder this season.
This is largely a result of the ability of players like Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody to get back in transition and, if not force a turnover, at least slow down the opposing offense and force them to take some sort of contested shot.
Although the matchup against the hungry Grizzlies will certainly not be easy, Golden State could take advantage of this facet of their game in order to eek out a much-needed victory.