Mike Conley’s return helps the Grizzlies fully restore their defense-first mentality and score a win at Oracle Arena
OAKLAND — Cars starting in the parking lot with a couple minutes to go in a playoff game at the home of an intensely loyal fan base. That is what grind sounds like.
Ninety points by the Warriors. That’s what grind looks like.
“They kicked our butts,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
That is what grind feels like.
Those were the Memphis Grizzlies flexing Tuesday night. The Grizzlies of 55 wins in the regular season and a 4-1 series win over the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. The physical Grizzlies who prompted Warriors center Andrew Bogut to predict an ice-bath series before these Western Conference semifinals began. Not, in other words, the Grizzlies who played without their usual tough-guy DNA on Sunday.
Game 2 was a 97-90 Memphis win inside an Oracle Arena in disbelief. It was, as well, a team reclaiming its identity while making the Warriors look scattered. Memphis became the first visitor to win in Oakland since Jan. 27 and gave Golden State just its third home loss in 45 such games this season and postseason.
Mike Conley wore a mask to protect fractured bones in his face, got hit in said face, and stepped into the moment in a definition of leadership with 27 minutes of play that would have been a big contribution for someone who didn’t undergo facial surgery eight days earlier. The Warriors went from flicking 87 shots per outing during the regular season and 85.4 the first five postseason contests to 74 on Tuesday. Golden State had more turnovers (20) than assists (16).
“This is kind of what this series is about. We want to play fast. They want to play slow, and they got the tempo where they needed it tonight.”
– Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr
The real Grizzlies, ladies and gentlemen.
“We’ll get more physical,” Memphis coach Dave Joerger said, or warned. “Tonight was pretty good screening and boxing out. But our guards did a tremendous job coming down to get defensive rebounds tonight. Beno (Udrih) ended up with five, Jeff Green gets a couple, Vince Carter ends up with six defensive rebounds. Tonight we got a lot of loose balls we didn’t get in Game 1.”
The Grizzlies have a 1-1 series heading to FedEx Forum — the Grindhouse — because of it. They have done what no team has for weeks, maybe even into a second month: Put pressure on the Warriors, who won the West by 11 games, the opening round against New Orleans in four straight and the first game of the conference semis by 15 points without playing especially sharp.
Consider Golden State officially challenged.
“It’s what they do,” Kerr said. “They pound you on the block, and then if you turn the ball over against them and they get some lanes, now they have some confidence. This is kind of what this series is about. We want to play fast. They want to play slow, and they got the tempo where they needed it tonight.
“But all in all, I thought most of it was our indecision offensively. Not indecision. More just our frantic possessions where we didn’t come down and really have good passes, good screens, good cuts where we could kind of get a rhythm to the game. There’s pace that comes out of transition, but there’s also pace in the half court, and you have to have good pace with your half court offense, and we did not.”
The Warriors, frantic? Scrambled on offense? At Oracle?
That just doesn’t happen. And then it did on a night that started with the emotional rush of Stephen Curry receiving the Kia NBA MVP trophy from commissioner Adam Silver in a pre-game ceremony. Conley, with the left side of his face still swollen under the eye and around the cheekbone and often needing to lift his mask and clear its foggy buildup, played with far greater composure.
He had missed the previous three playoff games, and returning against a very good opponent with a lethal backcourt would have been challenge enough with a basic injury as opposed to, you know, broken bones in his face. Playing, or lasting, 27 minutes despite not being in top condition and fighting off cramps near the end made him the epitome of the Grindhouse mentality. Making eight of 12 shots overall and three of six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 22 points made him a bigger star than ever before.
“There wasn’t any pain before (tipoff),” he said. “I got hit a few times in the game, and in those times, obviously, I was expecting it to be sore and throb a little bit. But it only lasted for a few minutes and then I kept playing.”
“I’m just happy for him that he’s able to play,” Grizzlies center Marc Gasol said. “Because the mental part that you’ve got to push through and nobody but yourself can do it. So I’m happy that Mike is able to not only push through that but to succeed and help your team win. That makes everything worth it. Of course I’m very happy to have him out there. That’s easy to say because how much he means to the team, how much he means to me, and he gives us toughness, and he gives us a lot of things that nobody else can do like he can.”
Conley didn’t flinch, fighting through screens on defense set by bigger Warriors, trying to penetrate into the lane and hitting the court for loose balls. That was the entire Memphis operation actually in responding to the Game 1 so out of character. This was more like it. This was more what grind seems like.
