The Golden State Warriors will play the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Semifinals, beginning Sunday, May 1 at 12:30 p.m. in Memphis.
The two teams met four times in the regular season, with Memphis coming out victorious three times. Only four Warriors played in all four matchups; Nemanja Bjelica, Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II and Juan Toscano-Anderson. Draymond Green missed two of the four matchups against the Grizzlies and Klay Thompson only appeared in one game versus Memphis this season.
WARRIORS VS. GRIZZLIES 2021-22 LEADERS
WARRIORS VS. GRIZZLIES 2021-22 TEAM STATS
Let’s take a closer look at each game between the Warriors and Grizzlies from the 2021-22 regular season.
In the Warriors fifth road game in seven days, and having lost five of their previous six games, the Warriors fell 123-95 to the Grizzlies, the Dubs largest margin of defeat this season. The Warriors were without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr. and Klay Thompson. Jordan Poole scored a team-high 25 points, while rookie Moses Moody added 18 points off the bench. The Grizzlies led by as many as 37 points in the game and Desmond Bane scored a team-high 22 points, making five of his six 3-point attempts. Dillon Brooks and De’Anthony Melton each scored 21 points. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. both missed the game due to injuries.
The Warriors trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half before taking a three-point leading heading into the fourth quarter. But the Warriors shot just 26.1 percent from the field (6-for-23) in the final frame en route to a 116-108 defeat. Stephen Curry recorded his second triple-double of the season in the loss, recording 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Klay Thompson, playing in his second game of the season, recorded 14 points and had a team-high plus-17 differential. Gary Payton II added 13 points, five rebounds and three steals off the bench. Ja Morant scored 29 points and added eight assists and five rebounds for Memphis, shooting 11-of-23 from the field. Jaren Jackson Jr. recorded 13 points and 11 rebounds, scoring eight of his points in the fourth quarter. Tyus Jones was terrific off the bench, finishing with 17 points, eight assists, six rebounds and a team-high plus-20 differential. Jones made all five of his 3-point attempts in the win. The win for Memphis was their 10th consecutive win during their season-high 11-game winning streak.
Memphis led by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, shooting 60.9 percent from the field and 75 percent from 3-point range in the first frame, but the Dubs were able to contain them in the final three quarters. Stephen Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ lone win over the Grizzlies this season. Curry scored 30 points in the second half, including scoring 15 of the Dubs’ 29 points in the fourth quarter. Gary Payton II, in his second start of the year, scored a season-high 22 points, shooting 9-of-16 from the field and making a career-high four 3-pointers. Otto Porter Jr., in his first start of the season, added eight points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal. The Warriors recorded 30 assists in the game, finishing the regular season 26-1 when dishing out 30-or-more assists. The Dubs also had a season-high-tying nine blocks in the win. Ja Morant (21), Jaren Jackson Jr. (20) and De’Anthony Melton (20) scored a combined 61 points, but Memphis made only 8-of-26 3-point attempts.
The Dubs led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter, but the Grizzlies were able to claw their way back into the game. A Jaren Jackson Jr. 3-pointer with 7:45 left in regulation tightened the Warriors lead to two points. Over the final seven minutes no team was able to extend the lead to more than three points. Damion Lee tied the game at 98-98 with 2:04 remaining in the game, but the two teams combined to miss the last eight shots of regulation to force overtime. The shooting struggle continued in overtime, with the Grizzlies six points on 2-of-7 shooting outscoring the Warriors three points on 1-of-8 shooting, resulting in a 104-101 Grizzlies win. Stephen Curry recorded a team-high 36 points, adding eight assists and seven rebounds. Andrew Wiggins tallied 16 points and Lee scored 14 points off the bench. Four of the five Memphis starters recorded double-digit scoring, with Ja Morant scoring a team-high 30 points. Morant and De’Anthony Melton both recorded four steals, as the Dubs had a season-high-tying 22 turnovers in the loss. Kyle Anderson added eight points and nine rebounds off the bench.
It was a competitive regular season between the Warriors and Grizzlies, with three of the four games being tied at some point of the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies finished the season series scoring 7.5 more points than the Warriors, but the Dubs shot better from the field and 3-point range. Memphis attempted 44 more field goals than Golden State due to outrebounding the Dubs 48-26 and winning the turnover margin 76-56. With the Warriors much healthier now than at any point of the season, this series has the potential to be one of the best of the Conference Semifinals.