ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Memphis Grizzlies were in town to face the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Playoffs, Western Conference Semifinals.
Mike Conley was out with a fracture in his face suffered in their opening series against the Portland Trail Blazers, having surgery just five days ago.
The Warriors were at full strength, although Brandon Rush and Ognjen Kuzmic were listed by head coach Steve Kerr as inactive.
1ST QUARTER: Treymond!
The Grizzlies got the first bucket of the game as Marc Gasol passed back out from down low to Courtney Lee beyond the arc, but the Warriors answered with a 8-2 run, with Draymond Green hitting two in-rhythm, non-hesitating three-pointers.
Golden State survived a couple of in-the-paint shots by Memphis big men Gasol and Zach Randolph, as well as a couple of missed layups at the rim by Tony Allen, but Curry fed Andrew Bogut for an alley-oop on a slip of a weakside screen.
Then another trey by Green, after Stephen Curry tried to juke loose Gasol and Nick Calathes with a between-the-legs crossover — yet finding Draymond open at the top with a behind-the-back lefty pass all in one motion — gave the Warriors a 17-11 lead.
Curry and Courtney Lee traded finger rolls in the lane, with Steph setting his up with a left-to-right behind-the-back crossover that fooled Calathes, but Randolph kept things close with a bucket underneath, establishing position in front of Bogut, that was fed by Allen.
After a missed layup by Calathes, Green fumbled the rebound in traffic, the Grizzlies got the ball back, but Bogut disrupted Allen at the rim. However, Bogut was slow getting up and when Memphis head coach Dave Joerger called timeout after a steal by Andre Iguodala led to a fastbreak layup by Leandro Barbosa.
The Warriors had a 25-18 lead with 3:33 to go in the first frame as Bogut was seen on the Golden State baseline stretching his back.
The Warriors were able to maintain their cushion as Gasol lost the ball to swarming defense by Green, and Iguodala converted on the other end, leading the break and finishing with gigantic steps to the rim.
Barbosa added a right corner trey as Festus Ezeli saw a cross-court pass sail by just out of reach, but Memphis backup point guard Beno Udrih drill a trey from the top as Curry had no choice but to show help as an isolated Randolph posted up Harrison Barnes on the right block.
Steph tried to get Udrih back, catching and shooting on receiving a curl on the deep right wing, about a yard beyond the arc. It missed off rim too hard, but Festus Ezeli was there to clean it up and got the putback banker.
The Warriors took a 32-25 lead into the second quarter as Green led all scorers with 11 points on 3 treys, to go along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Curry had 5 assists.
2ND QUARTER: Bench Unit Delivers
Marreese Speights started the second stanza for the Dubs and it soon became clear that the Golden State bench was superior to that of Memphis.
With Barnes playing the “Stretch 4”, the Grizzlies’ backups of Vince Carter and Kosta Koufos were no match. Barnes started things off with a left dribble-and-pop swish over Carter.
With Randolph on him, Barnes then took the Memphis big man with a hard dribble to the right baseline with the shotclock winding down, and converted a jump hook that trickled into the basket.
After Iguodala and Barbosa passed to each other, resulting in a three on the left wing by Iguodala, Thompson converted a layup out of a TV timeout, then Jeff Green inexplicably left Barnes wide open on the right wing to shade over on Shaun Livingston up top. Barnes drilled the triple and the Warriors took a 45-31 lead.
Speights stayed hungry, getting a right baseline jump hook over Koufos to fall, and Joerger called another timeout as #MoBuckets motioned for the Oracle crowd to get louder (and it did!).
With 6:30 to go in the half, Golden State took a 49-33 lead.
Klay Thompson, who had been relatively quiet up throughout the game, then put his imprint on the game, take a big dribble and step into the lane, slipping a bit, but maintaining his balance enough for a fade-away swish.
Then after Jeff Green missed a jump hook over Barnes, Thompson brought the ball up, avoided Allen closing behind him, and made a nice inside-out dribble to find Livingston wide open under the bucket.
With 3:32 remaining, the Warriors maintained a 53-39 lead. That’s when Allen became #Roaracle’s least-favorite Grizzly, as he accidentally stepped into the Junior Jam Squad’s big-circled routine near the end of the timeout. Oracle rained the boos.
Randolph went on the offensive, getting a bankshot lefty over Draymond and, on Curry’s third turnover of the night, a bad pass with his feet in the air from the baseline trying to find Livingston, Lee got a runner to fall in the lane.
“Z-Bo” (Randolph’s nickname) then drew Bogut’s third personal on a series of spins in the paint, then got a runner in the lane, right-to-left, over Ezeli, to make it 55-47 after the free throws.
Curry then hit two treys, going left-to-right behind-the-back with a crossover for a stop and pop beyond the arc on the left wing, then after Gasol toilet-bowled a jumper from up top, went between-the-legs on a stop versus Lee, to make it 61-51 with 51 seconds to go.
But Draymond picked up his third personal as well, as Allen drew a whistle, cutting the halftime lead for the Warriors to 62-51.
Randolph led all scorers with 16 points while Gasol added 11. Curry notched 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting, 2-for-4 downtown, with 5 assists, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers, while Draymond added 11 points on 3-for-5 beyond the arc.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mishalogvinov)
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