Warriors-Grizzlies: Previewing Golden State’s NBA play-in matchup
SAN FRANCISCO — While Stephen Curry likened the Warriors’ season finale against the Clippers to a Game 7, Steve Kerr was more measured, noting that it was merely the first of three chances at securing a playoff berth.
A win would have given them a much-needed week of rest, but after a 124-119 overtime loss Sunday, they’ll get a second try against a Memphis team trending in the wrong direction.
Golden State will host the Grizzlies in the No. 7-8 play-in game at Chase Center on Tuesday, televised on TNT. The winner advances to face the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in the first round, while the loser will face another play-in game against the winner of No. 9 Sacramento and No. 10 Dallas.
“We essentially had three home games to win one, and we didn’t get it done the first try,” second-year guard Brandin Podziemski said. “So we’ve got two more cracks at it.”
Storyline
While some of the main characters remain from the teams’ heated Western Conference semifinals in 2022, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins is gone. He was fired last month after Memphis fell from second place in the Western Conference at 38-20 to the play-in with a record of 48-34. Golden State, meanwhile, has gone 22-8 since adding Jimmy Butler III.
Jenkins was replaced by Tuomas Iisalo, but the coach on the opposite bench is still around.
“I don’t think they’d care if Steve Kerr wasn’t here anymore,” Draymond Green said. “But they still want to beat the hell out of us.”
Season series (GSW 3, MEM 1)
Jenkins was let go the last week of March, and the Warriors went to Memphis and beat the Grizzlies, 134-125, a few nights later. Ja Morant went off for 36 points, but Curry poured in 52. The Grizzlies’ one win this season came on Dec. 19, when Curry (2 points) and Morant (9) were both held to single digits.
Memphis made 27 3-pointers in the 144-93 win.
Play-in history
The Warriors are 0-3 all-time in the play-in, including an overtime loss to Memphis at Chase Center that eliminated them in 2021.
“The play-in games actually don’t exist,” Kerr joked. “I don’t remember anything about being in a play-in game in the past. It vanished into thin air.”
Recent history
The Grizzlies closed their season on a high note, routing the downtrodden Mavericks on Sunday, but Memphis hasn’t been much better since changing coaches. In nine games under Iisalo, the Grizzlies are 4-5 with the 10th-worst net rating in the NBA.
Morant, however, is averaging 29.8 points per game since the start of March, and his counterpart in the post, 6-foot-10 Jaren Jackson Jr. (22.2 ppg, 5.6 reb, 1.5 blk), gives them size the Warriors can’t match. And Desmond Bane (19.2 ppg, 6.1 reb, 5.3 ast), as Green put it, “has turned back into the Desmond Bane that signed a $200 million contract.”
X-factor: Playoff Jimmy
The addition of Butler has turned the Warriors into the league’s best defensive unit and, against the odds, one of its best at getting to the free-throw line, too.
What hasn’t yet been on display is the next gear Butler has proven to have when the lights are brightest. His 17.5 points, 5.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game have been nice so far, but Butler is known to take it up a notch in the playoffs.
He averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists while leading the Miami Heat to two Finals appearances the past five years. A return to that level would give Golden State the kind of second weapon that it hasn’t possessed since Kevin Durant.
Injury report
Since their last meeting, the Grizzlies lost a perimeter defender in former Sonoma State star Jaylen Wells, who broke his wrist on a hard fall. Morant only played 50 games this season and sat out Sunday’s finale but all indications are the two-time All-Star is ready to go for the postseason. Meanwhile, Curry is 37 and played Sunday with his right thumb wrapped in athletic tape, nursing an ailment that has bugged him all season. He also continues to deal with a pelvic contusion that cost him three games last month.
The bigger concern might be with Butler, who was heavily favoring his right leg during overtime against the Clippers.
While Kerr said that Butler was OK and pointed to Curry’s 36 points as a sign his thumb wasn’t a concern, the Warriors also played one of their most taxing games of the season. Butler played 48 minutes, Podziemski played 42, while Curry and Green logged 38 apiece.
By the numbers
Points per game: MEM 121.7 (2nd), GSW 113.7 (17th)
Opponents’ points per game: GSW 110.5 (8th), MEM 116.9 (24th)
Offensive rating: MEM 117.2 (6th), GSW 114.2 (16th)
Defensive rating: GSW 111.0 (7th), MEM 112.6 (11th)
Possessions per game: MEM 103.8 (3rd), GSW 99.7 (18th)
Rebounds per game: MEM 47.3 (2nd), GSW 45.4 (7th)
3-point percentage: MEM 36.7% (13th), GSW 36.4% (16th)