The Golden State Warriors are confirmed as the first participants in the West Finals! With a 110-96 win in Game 6, the Dubs prevailed after a tough battle against the Memphis Grizzlies. Klay Thompson continues to work on the legend of “Game 6 Klay”, Stephen Curry also wakes up late.
Thompson shot his way to the Warriors top scorer with 8 threes (in 14 attempts), in addition to his 30 points he collected 8 rebounds. The Splash Brother was also responsible for the Dagger minutes before the end. Golden State used a strong closing phase to shake off the Grizzlies for good.
The last six minutes of the game went to the home side 23:7, also because Curry finally turned up the heat. After a rather weak performance, he scored 11 points in the final section and built up his points account to 29 points with 10/27 from the field (6/17 three-pointers). Andrew Wiggins contributed a strong double-double (18 and 11 rebounds), Draymond Green had 14 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists and Kevon Looney also dominated the boards (4, 22 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds).
The Grizzlies, who once again had to do without Ja Morant, couldn’t keep up in the final minutes. Before that, Dillon Brooks showed a lot of improvement (30 points, 7/15 threes), but there were also a lot of shadows in his game. Desmond Bane scored 25 points, otherwise only Jaren Jackson Jr. (12, 5/19 FG) had double digits.
The Warriors started with a bigger lineup with Looney replacing Jonathan Kuminga, which paid off defensively and in rebounding. Memphis scored just 8 points in the first six minutes. They offensively attacked Steven Adams’ drop coverage, allowing Thompson to open several three-pointers.
An early 8-point lead was quickly gone again. Again, the turnover problem played a role in Golden State (6 turnovers in the first quarter), Brooks punished it with back-to-back threes. The 26-year-old aggressively sought his throw and, unlike in previous games, also scored. Only 30:26 for Golden State.
Klay Thompson on fire early – Grizzlies hold back strongly
Thompson got into a good rhythm in the first quarter and after a few minutes in the second round he already had 5 triples. But Memphis also had a lot of target water, Brooks and Jones fueled a 14-0 run from downtown that gave the visitors the lead. However, Brooks also conceded a flagrant foul 1 for one Nudge against curry, which apparently stole the momentum from Memphis. Now the Dubs started a run again, which brought them the 53:51 half-time lead.
It took a while after the break for the offense to get going again, and Golden State was hardly able to throw open throws. But when Thompson sank several threes, he was back on fire. Memphis also held back from a distance, thanks to Bane (11 in the third quarter) the guests couldn’t be shaken off – 78:77 for the Warriors after 36 minutes.
The initially hot hand from a distance at the Warriors was now completely gone. Bane and Brooks turned the game around again, but Wiggins sank important shots on the other side. And in transition there was finally a curry threesome again. In this new 10-0 run, the Warriors also received support from several Brooks errors, Golden State dropped to +8.
Memphis could not recover from this. Steph followed up with another triple, a load visibly lifted from his heart. Shortly thereafter, the dubs finally grounded their opponent as Looney secured several offensive rebounds and finally Thompson sank the next triple to +13 three minutes from time. The Grizzlies are out of the playoffs after a big fight – Golden State meets the winner of Suns vs. Mavs in the West Finals.
The most important statistics
Golden State Warriors (3) – Memphis Grizzlies (2) 110:96 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 4-2
- It’s now an old story in this series: The Warriors, actually the more experienced team, shoot themselves in the foot with numerous and often unnecessary turnovers. This time there were 12 turnovers in the first half alone (Memphis: 3) and a total of 19 (to 7). In the past three games, Golden State has lost almost twice as much turnover as the Grizzlies (57:29). Of course, it’s difficult to close a series like that.
- Despite these many mistakes, the possession game was relatively even, which was due to the clear advantages of the warriors on the boards. The hosts had 25 (!) offensive rebounds – they were only rarely able to convert this advantage into points. Golden State left a lot in the ring area – in general both teams had problems in the zone (GSW: 18/43 FG, MEM: 17/49 FG).
- Matching this nugget from Statmuse: Looney’s 22 rebounds in this game is the most by a Warriors player in a single playoff game since Larry Smith did in 1987, so bringing in the center was well worth it.
- The problems in the zone were the reason for very weak field shot rates in half one, although the shooting was right on both sides. The Warriors hit 11/27 from long range, Memphis 9/22 – and yet both just scratched the mark of 36 percent from the field. After the change of sides, Golden State also ran less together from the threesome. In the end there were 20 successful triples in 53 attempts (37.7 percent), Memphis came up with 15/36 triples.
NBA Playoffs – Warriors vs. Grizzlies: The Voices
Mike Brown (Warriors-Coach): “You’ve all been at this for a while. You know how Klay is at 6 in a game. […] This is the first time I’ve let multiple guys play over 40 minutes. We didn’t want to go back to Memphis.”
Dillon Brooks (Grizzlies) on respect from the Warriors: “It’s 100 percent. They know we’re coming every year now. We’re young, they’re getting older. Today the rebounding and the fast break points killed us.”
The star of the game: Klay Thompson
Thompson diligently continued to knit the “Game 6 Klay” legend. He’s played in six Game 6s since 2016 and averaged almost 28 points at 54 percent from distance. After poor performance recently, the Splash Brother was there again this time. After his last triple he held up six fingers – Game 6 Klay has struck again! In the final section he finally received support from Curry.
The flop of the game: Tyus Jones
The Morant replacement played a big part in Memphis expanding the series in Game 5. But when it came to scoring, Jones was almost a total failure that night. The positive? 8 assists and 9 rebounds. The big but: For his 7 points he needed 12 shots (2 hits).
The scene of the game
In this scene, the Grizzlies finally ran out of steam. Twice Looney worked out the offensive rebound, then he found Thompson on the left wing – nothing but net! The Chase Center completely freaked out, and Klay was just bubbling with joy. That was the final nail in the coffin for a very strong Grizzlies season.
NBA Playoffs: Warriors vs. Grizzlies – The series at a glance
| Spiel | Datum | time | Heim | away | result |
| 1 | 1st May | 9:30 p.m | Memphis Grizzlies | Golden State Warriors | 116:117 |
| 2 | 4. May | 3:30 a.m | Memphis Grizzlies | Golden State Warriors | 106:101 |
| 3 | 8 May | 2.30 a.m | Golden State Warriors | Memphis Grizzlies | 142:112 |
| 4 | May 10 | 4 o’clock | Golden State Warriors | Memphis Grizzlies | 101:98 |
| 5 | 12. May | 3:30 a.m | Memphis Grizzlies | Golden State Warriors | 134:95 |
| 6 | 14. May | 4 o’clock | Golden State Warriors | Memphis Grizzlies | 110:96 |
