Warriors Have Chance to Deliver Golden Statement About 2015 NBA Title Chances
After a brief, uncharacteristic display of vulnerability, the Golden State Warriors appear to be back at their world-beating best.
But their evolution from regular-season ruler to true playoff power remains a work in progress. Closing out the feisty, battle-tested Memphis Grizzlies on Beale Street in Game 6 would be the surest sign yet that significant progress is being made.
The Dubs have already been dropping hints that they're ready to take the next step.
If long-held NBA "truths" were to be trusted, this is the type of playoff series that should have exposed them. Jump-shooting teams don't survive in the second season. Experience is a must in any postseason survival kit.
Old hoop heads prefer the Grizzlies' ground-and-pound game for playoff basketball. And no one can deny that Memphis is much more familiar with this stage. This is the Grizzlies' fifth consecutive playoff appearance; the Dubs have all of four to show for the last 21 seasons. Memphis was a Western Conference finalist in in 2013; Golden State hasn't ventured that far since 1976.
For a while, it looked like those things would really matter. After the Dubs opened the series with a double-digit win, the Grizzlies imposed their will with back-to-back bruising victories. Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol feasted on the interior, while Golden State's perimeter game seemed like it got an early start on its summer vacation.
But the Warriors have since changed the series—by not changing much at all.
Head coach Steve Kerr and his staff have made a few effective adjustments. They've worked to exploit Randolph's lack of mobility through a barrage of pick-and-roll attacks directed at the burly forward. And they've greeted every low-post touch for Randolph and Gasol with double teams and active hands, daring the Grizzlies' perimeter players to beat them from deep.
Memphis hasn't answered that call. Over the last two outings—both double-digit Warriors wins—the Grizzlies are just 8-of-33 from long range (24.2 percent).
As Golden State's defense has collapsed to the middle, Memphis' primary attack has crumbled. The Grizzlies had their worst shooting night in the paint during Game 4, then fell even further in Game 5, via ESPN Stats & Info:
The Warriors, who won a franchise-record 67 games during the regular season, hadn't really faced any adversity all year. Memphis made sure to change that, and it took some time for Golden State to respond.
But now the Warriors are just one win away from passing their first major exam.
"It's been a gut check. A character test. In the past week, this team has faced adversity and doubt, and responded," wrote Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle. "It has grown up."
More importantly, it has matured without losing the things that make it great.
The Warriors are still firing with reckless abandon from distance, because that's what a team with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the same backcourt should do. The Splash Brothers have been dropping cannonballs of late, burying 16 of their 32 long-range attempts over their last two games.
During that same stretch, Golden State has outscored Memphis 84-24 from beyond the arc. That's a massive gap for any team to overcome, let alone one that prides itself on grinding out every offensive possession.
As ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss noted, the Dubs have been dispelling myths and hammering home the importance of the long ball:
"The old adage about how teams 'live by the 3' and eventually 'die by the 3' ignores how 'the 3' can be some sensible insurance in troubled times. The adage presumes the outside shot to be a seductive, risky option that always ends badly. In reality, it's just a series of opportunities in which a team can grab more points—ostensibly a good thing for a team trying to score, well, points.
"
But the Dubs' style is about more than a quantity-plus-quality perimeter game. Three-point shooting alone wouldn't have netted this group the No. 1 overall playoff seed.
When this offense is rolling, the ball dances from one hand to the next, transforming good shots into great ones along the way. But the ball was uncharacteristically sticky in Games 2 and 3. The Warriors seemed to lose trust in the system, and too many of their players tried putting the team on their back.
Fortunately, the bad kind of hero ball didn't make it past Game 3. The Dubs are back wreaking havoc with the same aesthetically pleasing passing attack that powered them through the regular season.
| Games 2 & 3 | 265.5 | 18 | 57.1 | 42.6 |
| Games 4 & 5 | 302 | 25 | 65.8 | 47.2 |
| Regular Season | 315.8 | 27.4 | 65.9 | 47.8 |
Adjustments propelled Golden State to its Game 4 win, namely the decision to let Andrew Bogut roam the paint and leave Tony Allen unchecked on defense. But Wednesday's 98-78 rout happened for a different reason and provided greater significance.
"Something important happened Wednesday—something that might make the schemes and talent of those prospective opponents irrelevant," wrote Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes. "The Warriors proved that, regardless of the matchup or stakes, they could play their game."
And, despite what some would expect given their oversimplified "jump-shooting team" label, playing the Warriors' game means locking down defensively.
Somehow, many seem to have forgotten this group led the league in defensive efficiency and field-goal percentage against during the regular season. For as much as the Warriors have helped themselves from beyond the arc, defense is what really allowed them to regain control of this series.
"I said the first couple of games that our defense was good enough, but it wasn't championship defense. I was wrong," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Game 5, via Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. "It wasn't good enough. This is what it's going to take; this kind of defense from tonight and Game 4."
The Warriors are reclaiming their spot atop the NBA's totem pole. Handling this Memphis team when the lights are this bright and the stakes are this high is no small achievement.
But Golden State's dreams extend well beyond the second round. And the next step in realizing those lofty ambitions is ensuring this series doesn't last longer than it needs to.
"You don't want to mess around," Kerr said of clinching the series in Game 6, via the Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung. "You never know what can happen."
Memphis is down, but it's far from out. The Dubs should heed those warning signs about not feeding the animals, because these Grizzlies can turn lethal if they're given a second life.
Close-out victories can be the hardest ones to secure, and Golden State won't have the raucous Oracle Arena crowd behind it. Nothing about Friday night's fight will be easy.
But championship-caliber clubs rise to a challenge like this. And the Warriors have battled all season to prove they're one of those teams.
This is their first real chance to show the basketball world they're every bit as powerful in the playoffs as they were during the 82-game trek to get there.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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