We learned everything we needed to know in the Warriors’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
So what do you want to know?
If you’re looking for reasons to buy into the Golden State Warriors going into the NBA’s postseason, you were given more than a few Tuesday night.
If you’re looking for reasons to fade the Golden State Warriors going into the NBA’s postseason, you were given more than a few Tuesday night.
Consider the contest a basketball Rorschach test. In what was inarguably the most important game of the year — a contest carrying not only vital playoff implications but also playoff intensity — Golden State and the Grizzlies played one of the most entertaining games of the season, with the Warriors winning 134-124.
The Warriors’ late-game execution was nearly flawless. The Dubs trailed by 4 with 3:38 to play but ended the contest on an 18-5 run, led by Jimmy Butler’s calm excellence, Steph Curry’s incendiary scoring, and Draymond Green’s Defensive Player of the Year-caliber finish.
Oh, and Brandin Podziemski had a game-changing tip-in over Ja Morant, and Moses Moody hit a game-icing corner 3.
It was the kind of closing stretch that coaches can only dream about — the Dubs put the clamps on Memphis and maintained their sanity (to say nothing of their offensive sets) on the other end.
And considering that Tuesday’s game might as well have been an honest-to-goodness playoff contest—or at least a play-in game—seeing the Warriors rise to the occasion in such a manner can be considered nothing but encouraging to anyone looking for reasons to back the Dubs this spring.
With the win, the Warriors took the season tiebreaker from the Grizzlies and, in turn, moved into the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference Standings. The Dubs already hold a tiebreaker over the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are one game back of the Warriors in the loss column, but sit No. 7 – in the play-in tournament — in the West.
The Warriors have seven games to play, and five of them could prove exceptionally tricky. The breathing room—while minimal—created on Tuesday should unquestionably loom large, particularly with the Mortal Kombat-like gauntlet the Warriors face the remainder of the week: Lakers (No. 4), Denver (No. 3), and Houston (No. 2).
Then there’s the flip side:
Curry scored 52 points, made 12 3-pointers, and added 10 rebounds, eight assists, and five steals Tuesday. It was one of his finest performances ever on NBA hardwood.
Butler scored 27, with 12 coming on a perfect night from the free-throw line. (The Warriors, as a team, were perfect from the free-throw line, making all 28 attempts.)
Green was incredible. The box score says he had a triple-double — 13, 10, and 12 — which is hardly too shabby. Anyone who watched the game knows his impact was far more significant than those numbers could indicate. He was downright dominant on the defensive side of the court — the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s contest should be sent to every Defensive Player of the Year voter.
The Dubs’ Big Three turned in something close to a perfect game.
And yet the Warriors barely won, as the final scoreline flattered them a bit after they blew a 17-point lead.
The Warriors’ playoff hopes — which we should all be grateful exist given the course of this season — hinge strictly on the availability of the 35-, 35-, and 37-year-old stars. Without even one of the three, the Warriors are done.
But what the Big Three did on Tuesday? That’s unsustainable.
And it’s hardly encouraging that the Dubs needed every last bit of it.
Credit to Podziemski and Moody for closing strong, but the Warriors’ role players did not turn in a winning 48 in Memphis.
That can be expected in a game like Tuesday’s. Role players play better at home come playoff time, and Tuesday was a sneak preview of the playoffs.
What cannot be expected, at least four out of seven times out, is what Curry, Butler, and Green did.
I’ve already heard the arguments that the Warriors were “shorthanded” and “on a road trip.”
The latter carries more weight than the former. Neither is going to hold up to playoff-level scrutiny. Being tired and injured is part of the postseason experience.
Yes, Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II were sidelined. (Payton’s absence might have loomed larger — don’t tell Kuminga’s agents.)
Perhaps the former can return from his pelvis injury and be the winning role player the Dubs have long asked him to be. I don’t see a reason to believe that will change. Don’t be surprised if Kuminga is fighting to steal minutes from Gui Santos this postseason — not the other way around. DNPs are on the table for the Warriors forward in the playoffs.
So what’s real? What can we expect from the Dubs this spring?
Anything — and I mean anything — is on the table.
Originally Published: April 2, 2025 at 7:15 AM PDT
