A night of supposed celebration turned into a night of disappointment as the Memphis Grizzlies took it to the Golden State Warriors, coming out with a 97-90 win in Game 2 to tie the series at 1-1. Exuberance was felt all across Oracle Arena as Stephen Curry was presented the MVP trophy in front of his home crowd, but the Grizzlies didn’t let that stop them from what they planned to do. They rode the coattail of Mike Conley and ended the Warriors 21-game home winning streak, which lasted for more than three months.
Memphis got a hot start to the game and looking at Mike Conley, you could not tell he has missed a few games. He started off the game shooting 4-for-4 for 9 points and early on you could see that Conley and the rest of the Grizzlies were in rhythm. Memphis got whatever they wanted in the paint, using their length and size as an advantage. Draymond Green got two early fouls which led to a technical that took him out the game for most of the 1st half.
The Grizzlies are controlling the paint and causing turnovers and the Warriors can’t make shots.Thats basically the difference in this game.
— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) May 6, 2015
The Warriors struggled to make shots all game, and I could hear Charles Barkley saying in the back of my head, “I told you so.” Steph Curry and Klay Thompson shot a combined 6-for-18 in the first half and as a whole the Warriors shot 41.9% for the game, only making 6 threes which is not like them. The Grizzlies imposed their will on both sides of the ball shutting them down on defense and scoring at will on offense, controlling the pace of the game. Offensively, what is usually a very fluid offense, last night the Warriors looked very sporadic and uncomfortable; and it showed on the stat sheet as they coughed up 20 turnovers compared to Memphis’s 13. Coach Kerr saw similar things from the sideline and he discussed it afterwards.
“I thought we lost our poise tonight. We were in such a rush,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Both teams fought hard in a very competitive Game 2. We saw the huge difference that Mike Conley made for Memphis compared to Game 1. Every run that Golden State attempted to make, the Memphis Grizzlies responded to and ultimately, they were just the better team all around.
Keys to Game 3:
- Stick with the offense and cut down the turnovers – Memphis disrupted a lot of what they like to do on offense and forced a lot of turnovers but Golden State must trust it and try not to go into too much one-on-one. They need to stay composed and stick to who they are.
- Toughen up inside – The Grizzlies scored 42 of their 97 points in the paint so the Warriors must find a way to stop them and become more physical, but they must do it without fouling.
- Klay Thompson must be Klay Thompson – 13 points won’t cut it in this series. He has to find a way to get easier and open shots despite Tony Allen’s tenacious defense.
