Golden State's Season Ends in Overtime
A week ago, the Warriors guaranteed themselves a home game in the play-in tournament with a victory over the Grizzlies.
But when it came time to clinch a playoff spot against the same Memphis team, Golden State fell just short.
The Memphis Grizzlies took down the Golden State Warriors 117-112 on Friday night in overtime at the Chase Center, propelling the road side to the playoffs while ending the Warriors’ season. Memphis took down the San Antonio Spurs in its first play-in game before clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with the ninth-best regular season record. Golden State fell in a 103-100 heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, and were eliminated from postseason contention with another close loss.
Fresh off his announcement as one of three NBA MVP finalists, Stephen Curry paced all scorers with 39 points amidst a bevy of defenders and defensive looks. With 35 points, however, second year point guard Ja Morant nearly matched the two-time MVP with a stellar scoring performance of his own, closing out the victory in overtime.
The Warriors were on the cusp of a win after Jordan Poole hit a three with 1:50 left in overtime to give them a two-point lead, but a Xavier Tillman triple off of a Morant assist before a pair of floaters from Morant sealed the game for the Grizzlies.
In front of roughly 7500 home fans, Golden State came out with a lack of composure, needing a 14-4 run to close the fourth quarter and extend the contest. Poole was the catalyst in getting the game to another period, hitting three clutch foul shots after Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins bizarrely declined to challenge a shooting foul with just 1:44 remaining. Poole would then penetrate the paint and drop off a game-tying assist to Andrew Wiggins.
Unfortunately for Steve Kerr, Wiggins, Draymond Green and the rest of the supporting cast – which propelled the Warriors to six consecutive wins to end the regular season – were simply unable to sufficiently complement Curry. Green filled the stat sheet with a triple-double, scoring 11 points while hauling in 16 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists, but looked sloppy from the opening tip and ended the game with six turnovers. Wiggins had 22 points on 10-of-22 shooting, but a bad miss towards the end of the contest highlighted the tough time other scorers had on the night.
Giveaways plagued Golden State at the Staples Center earlier in the week, and Curry contributed a third of the Warriors’ 21 turnovers Friday. The shooting also tells much of the story – Golden State outshot Memphis 44.7% to 40.8% from the field, but took four fewer shots as it was -8 in turnover differential.
The Warriors also played from behind for much of the night, trailing by double digits early and needing a “Curry flurry” to trail by just a single point after one quarter. With Curry on the bench for the first half of the second period, the Grizzlies outscored their opponents by a dozen points to take a 62-49 lead into the break. Memphis was saddled with early foul trouble from Jonas Valanciunas and Jaren Jackson Jr., with Valanciunas eventually fouling out of the game after grabbing a team 12 rebounds, but Golden State failed to take proper advantage. Dillon Brooks, who was one of the main defenders on Curry, chipped in 14 points, and Grayson Allen notched 12 points, including two clutch triples with the game in the balance at the start of overtime.
Curry was the only player to play the entirety of the second half and overtime – Green was subbed out for two minutes at the start of the second quarter – but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Warriors from missing the postseason for the second straight campaign.
And perhaps even more gutwrenching than the loss was seeing the sorely-missed Klay Thompson sit on the sideline, unable to contribute to a team which he helped steer to five straight NBA Finals.