Golden State Warriors fans would have already had one eye onto what's next from the early part of Sunday's dominant 148-106 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center.
The Spurs looked sluggish from the outset on the second night of a back-to-back, falling behind 19-6 in less than five minutes. The Warriors ended with 44 points by the end of the first period, with the result practically beyond doubt by half-time as the visitors built a 24-point advantage.
The Warriors will now prepare for their biggest game of the season
It was more of the same from Golden State in the third-quarter, allowing Steve Kerr to take an eye to the remainder of the schedule by resting his key players over the final 13 minutes in what resulted as their highest scoring game of the season.
The Warriors will now prepare for what will be their biggest game of the season to date against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday at FedExForum. Perhaps that can be said about every game from here on, but there's extra significance to Tuesday's game given the current landscape in the Western Conference.
Following the Grizzlies' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, and the Warriors' win over the Spurs less than 24 hours later, there's now only one game between the two teams in the tightly-packed standings.
That means that Golden State can stunningly move up to fifth with a win over their conference rival. The result going the Warriors way would tie the two teams in the standings, but a win would hand the visitors the all important season tie-break having already beaten the Grizzlies two out of three times earlier in the season.
There's plenty of upheaval at Memphis right now, with the franchise having made the shock move of firing head coach Taylor Jenkins with just nine games remaining in the regular season. That could work in the Warriors' favor, particularly given the fact the Grizzlies have now lost five of their past six games. While Golden State are 15-4 since the All-Star break and rank third in net rating, Memphis are just 8-12 and rank 20th in net rating.
Yet Tuesday's loss also comes with significant downside. While they regained the sixth-seed thanks to the L.A. Clippers losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, a loss to Memphis could see Golden State drop to eighth if external results also go against them.
The difference between a win and a loss for both teams can't be underestimated, making for a truly mouth-watering matchup ahead as the Warriors look to avoid the Play-In Tournament.
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