The Grizzlies, who entered the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, eliminated the Timberwolves on Friday night in dramatic fashion. They’ll get precious little time before jumping into their conference semifinal matchup with a much more seasoned postseason participant — the third-seeded Warriors. The series begins on Sunday afternoon on Memphis’ home court.
After rolling to 56 victories in the regular season, the young Grizzlies got a jolt to the system during their first-round series. They needed to stage major, and sometimes unlikely, comebacks to take care of the Timberwolves. They rallied from a 26-point deficit in Game 3 and needed a last-second Ja Morant layup to take Game 5. They outscored Minnesota 40-22 in the fourth quarter to win Game 6.
Playing catch-up against the Splash Brothers & Co. isn’t a recipe for success. Golden State holds championship banners from 2015, 2017 and 2018 and its “big three” are playing at a high level once again.
Morant and Desmond Bane will try to prove they can hold their own, or even outplay, the storied duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Bane averaged a team-high 23.5 PPG in the opening round. Morant had ups and downs in the series, averaging a subpar (by his standards) 21.5 PPG and 4.2 turnovers per contest. He’ll need to provide steadier production in the second round.
Dillon Brooks will be a key factor at both ends in a series that will revolve around the teams’ guards and wings. Brandon Clarke played a huge role off the bench against Minnesota but the Grizzlies will need more from Jaren Jackson Jr. (11.8 PPG, 7.2 RPG). The X-factor could be center Steven Adams, who entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols prior to Friday’s win.
Adams started regularly all season, then dropped out of the rotation because he was a bad matchup against the floor-stretching Karl-Anthony Towns. Assuming he exits protocols early in the series, Adams could play a much bigger role against Golden State, which doesn’t have a high-scoring frontcourt piece.
The Warriors come into the series confident and rested after dismissing Denver 4-1 in the opening round. Curry and Thompson combined to average 50.6 PPG in the opening round and vastly improved Jordan Poole (21.6 PPG) continued to add a potent third offensive option.
Draymond Green led the team in assists per game (7.4) against the Nuggets and will remain a heady and all-around defensive force. Gary Payton II could play a major role off the bench as a defender against Memphis’ guards.
So, which of these teams will advance to the 2022 Western Conference Finals? We want to know what you think. Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on Warriors/Grizzlies!
Regardless of regular season
Grizzlies are top 4 team in the nba
Grizzlies are a better team than Heat, 76ers and Mavs
Almost right sillivan. The Grizzlies are good but remember they are still young. Their time will be next year and the year after.
They still need to experience the success of second-round and perhaps Conference Finals before challenging a seasoned team like the Warriors who have been here time and time again.
The best option is
Start Gary Payton II
Bench Poole and even Wiggins
Wrong Silivan. You want that intensity as a fresh introduction into the game. It’s more effective that way then starting a player like that.
There’s something to be said about disruption and introduction of intense defense after a time of familiarity. Much to be said about mixing up patterns and looks. That’s part of what Gary Payton provides. A sudden change in intensity and pressure and defense. He’s great at that.
The bonus is that now Gary is hitting the Corner 3 and is actually superb at it so you can play him more than spot Duty.
GP2 will be a big factor in the series. Rather than seeing him start you will see him finishing games to stop JaMorant. He gave him problems in limited minutes during the season. Poole’s defense is just OK but nothing special. Keep JaMorant out of 4th quarter and you will win.
Yes Jordan Poole is quick enough on defense but he’s really not strong. That will come in time and I hope that his developed strength will not hurt his quickness or fluidity on offense in the future.
Now Kuminga is a better player than Otto Porter
Grizzlies roster has no weakness
Clarke and Jones would be quality starters on other playoffs teams
Wrong Sillivan. The weakness of the Grizzlies as they are not deep. They play eight guys but if someone gets into foul trouble they have to reach back to the 9th and 10th guys and that will hurt them.
Yes Jonathan Kuminga is probably a better player than Otto Porter Jr, but in the playoffs Porter is the veteran and he’ll probably play more. You can trust him to make the jump shot a little more consistently than Kuminga and he’s actually a really good rebounder. Jonathan kuminga will take Andre Iguodala’s minutes if he stays out.
Porter is better on defense and Kuminga better on offense. They will need Porter’s long arms to neutralize Jackson.
Different definitions of deep. The Grizz have 8 starters, essentially, if Adams is back from protocol. Plus Tillman, Konchar, and Melton, solid vet rotation players. Yeah if they have to go deeper than THAT they’re in trouble, but they never do. Their second unit is very good, and they mix and match first and second units interchangeably. Very tough matchup for GS. Memphis beat them 3 out of 4 this year, most of which was when the Dubs were playing well. Grizz are SO much better when Adams can play, which he could not with KAT as the opposing center.
Thumbs up. Good points.
Warriors were 1-3 versus the Nuggets this year also.
But I disagree the warriors were good to go and went 1-3 versus the Grizzlies…
1st loss: No Klay, JP was terrible
2nd loss: No Draymond, JP was terrible
3rd loss: No Steph/Klay/Draymond
Saw there were three comments on this article but was disappointed to find they were all from the Sillivan bot.
I love the Grizzlies. I love Dillon Brooks. Such great defense and intensity and a good all-around player who can shoot it pretty well. And Desmond Bane wow what a surprise. The guy’s a stud and has even stepped up in the playoffs. Fantastic pick up.
But the problem is they are so young and inexperienced and haven’t made a deep playoff run yet. We all know that you have to get there and experience What It Takes before you can win it. So challenging the Warriors in this second round and forcing a game 6 or 7 would go a long way in their development.
Warriors in 5. No all World player to deal with on the Grizzlies unless you count ja Morant who is almost all worldly but I think he can be contained. Jokic you just hope he doesn’t go off for 50.
That’s what Warriors have to hope for, that Memphis chokes it or Ja’s injury gets worse. But otherwise, it’s a terrible matchup for GS. They’ve got no one other than GP2 to check Ja and the other Grizz guards, who are all long and athletic and attack-oriented. And if they play GP2 a lot that’s less minutes for the shooters. JJJ is a tough matchup for Draymond too. Too long, too bouncy. Adams gets to play when Looney’s on the court, which makes the Grizzlies’ defense twice as good. And Memphis offensive rebounds like a mother, which is another GS weakness when they go small.
Feels like a few games will be decided by the refs and how touchy they are with the whistles
Warriors in 7 games. Let Looney start and have Poole shoot at will as 6th man.
It should be a really interesting series. Brooks made Steph’s life miserable when they met in the regular season. Hopefully, with the full crew back, they will be able to keep up with the younger Grizzlies. Has anyone noticed that Poole’s numbers went way down after he fell and hurt his elbow?
Lol what are you talking about? Curry faced Brooks only once this season and scored 46 on him.
Curry will be fine. Brooks won’t be able to handle him.
Even though Memphis won the series the Warriors never played them full strength. For several games two people were missing between Curry, Green, Thompson, Poole. So I’m a little nervous as a Warriors fan playing Memphis but also recognize they haven’t faced the Warriors at their best.
Memphis has had a good matchup against GS the last few years, but I think GS has a couple of pieces this year that should help them with that matchup problem, depending on who ultimately plays for Memphis. This will be a really tough series, and I think rebounding and outside shooting will be what decides it, assuming everyone is healthy
GS will also want to limit turnovers against a team that has De’Anthony Melton and other disruptive defenders
Grizz matchup well against Warriors. Their small ball will not be as effective. Grizz play D they can win this series. Can’t let Curry go off. He’s the key imo. Time for Ja to show he can play some D ……
Yes Al, but I think a guy like Dillon Brooks will be in foul trouble every game. He’s so aggressive, strong, and his defense is outstanding but I think they’ll put that aggressiveness on alert and watch for too much muscle against these star-studded, must go all the way, good TV ratings, Warriors.