We learned everything we needed to know during the Warriors ‘victory over Memphis’ grizzlewas.
So what do you want to know?
If you are looking for reasons to buy the Golden State Warriors when entering the NBA qualifiers, you received more than a few Tuesday evening.
If you are looking for reasons to fade the Golden State Warriors in front of the NBA in the playoffs, you have received more than a few Tuesday evenings.
Consider the competition as a Rorschach basketball test. In what was undoubtedly the most important game of the year – a competition not only vital implications in the playoff series, but also the intensity of the playoffs – Golden State and the Grizzlies played one of the most entertaining matches of the season, the Warriors winning 134-124.
The execution at the end of the Warriors was almost impeccable. The dubs dragged by 4 with 3:38 to play, but finished the competition on an 18-5 race, led by Calm Excellence by Jimmy Butler, the incendiary score of Steph Curry and the defensive player of Draymond Green at the end of the caliber player of the year.
Oh, and Brandin Podziemski had a revolutionary opinion on JA Morant, and Moses Moody struck a corner 3.
It was the kind of closing section which the coaches can only dream – the dubs put the pliers on Memphis and maintained their mental health (to say nothing about their offensive sets) on the other.
And considering that Tuesday’s match could just as easily have been an honest playoff competition – or at least a game game – see the Warriors on the occasion can not be considered as encouraging that anyone looking for reasons to support dubs this spring.
With the victory, the Warriors took the equal break in the Grizzlies season and, in turn, entered the head of N ° 5 in the classification of the Western Conference. The Dubs already have an equality break on the Minnesota Timberwolves, which are in a Warriors match in the loss column, but seated n ° 7 – in the game tournament – in the West.
The Warriors have seven games to play, and five of them could be exceptionally delicate. The breathing room – while minimal – created on Tuesday should undoubtedly be looming, in particular with the mortal kombat type glove, the warriors are faced with the rest of the week: Lakers (n ° 4), Denver (n ° 3) and Houston (n ° 2).
Then there is the reverse:
Curry scored 52 points, made 12 3 points and added 10 rebounds, eight assists and five interceptions on Tuesday. It was one of his best performances ever on the NBA hardwood.
Butler scored 27, with 12 coming from a perfect night from the Frank of Launs. (The Warriors, as a team, were perfect for the free throw line, making the 28 attempts.)
Green was incredible. The box score indicates that it had a triple -double – 13, 10 and 12 – which is hardly too shabby. Anyone who looked at the game knows that its impact was much more important than these figures could not indicate it. He was downright dominant on the defensive side of the court – the fourth quarter of the Tuesday competition should be sent to all defensive actors of the year.
The Big Three of Dubs turned something close to a perfect game.
And yet, the Warriors barely won, because the final score flattered them a little in a match, they showed 17 points.
The hopes of the Warriors qualifying series – which we should all be grateful, given the course of this season – strictly artified the availability of stars of 35, 35 and 37 years. Without even one of the three, the warriors are finished.
But what did the three big ones do on Tuesday? It is not durable.
And it is hardly encouraging that the dubs need each last piece.
Credit to Podziemski and Moody for its strong closure, but the Warriors players did not shot in a 48 winner in Memphis.
This can be expected in a match like Tuesday. Role players play better at home at the time of the playoffs, and Tuesday was an overview of the playoffs.
What we cannot expect, at least four times on seven times is what Curry, Butler and Green have done.
I have already heard the arguments that the Warriors were “in digital disadvantage” and “during a road trip”.
The latter has more weight than the first. Neither will resist a meticulous examination of the playoffs. Being tired and injured is part of the experience of the playoffs.
Yes, Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II were sidelined. (The absence of Payton could have been greater – do not say to the Kuminga agents.)
Perhaps the first can come back from his injury to the basin and be the winning player that the dubs have long asked him. I don’t see any reason to believe that it will change. Do not be surprised if Kuminga fights to steal minutes from Gui Santos in the playoffs – not the opposite. The DNPs are on the table for the Warriors forward in the playoffs.
So what’s real? What can we expect from dubs this spring?
Everything – and I mean anything – is on the table.
California Daily Newspapers
