The Memphis Grizzlies started hot at the end of the offensive, especially beyond the rainbow, but failed to take advantage of an early lead and were eventually drawn by Chase Center in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors as hosts. -112.
Ja Morant again presented big numbers for the Grizzlies, finishing with 34 points, seven assists and three rebounds, but the Warriors’ balanced attack was too much to overcome, as five players finished in double digits, led by Stephen Curry with 30 points and six assists, while Jordan Poole scored his 27 points. With the victory, Golden State has the opportunity to take a significant lead in a series of the best of its seven against Memphis on Monday night in match 4.
Here are the three biggest excerpts from Game 3.
1. Welcome to the Poole Party
Golden State’s egalitarian violation is unique to the NBA. This is a type of system in which virtually anyone can lead the team in the result. The Five Warriors had at least 17 points in Game 3, so it’s not as if Golden State abandoned their principles against Memphis, but they seem to have embraced a very simple fact: none of the Grizzlies can stay ahead of Jordan Poole. Such games do not appear in the box, but they are what made Poole so valuable in Game 3.
Someone slower than Jordan Poole tried to defend Jordan Poole. The slower defender was burned by Jordan Poole. The defense panicked at trying to take an easy basket. This created an easier basket.
Basketball in the playoffs is associated with matches. Teams need to identify their best and attack them mercilessly, because at this level the advantages are usually few and far between. Golden State has never played this way. They prefer their constant movement and beautiful attacking game. Poole vs. Memphis was the perfect merger. He finds slow defenders, destroys them and then makes the extra pass when the defense reacts to him. This is an advantage that this Warriors team has never had. Stephen Curry has many gifts, but he is not of this caliber as an athlete. Kevin Durant, as ruthlessly effective as he is, is far more methodical than explosive.
Poole is something different. It was as if Greg Madux had suddenly developed a 100 MPH fast ball in his mid-30s. He was already invincible … now the opponents have to deal with that? This is almost unfair.
Please check the checkbox to confirm that you want to subscribe.
Thank you for registering!
Keep track of your inbox.
I’m sorry!
There was an error processing your subscription.
2. Good Clay, bad Clay
It was a season of extremes for Clay Thompson on his return to the Warriors after a two-year absence. He has shot under 40 percent of the field in almost half of his regular season games. He also topped 35 points four times in the last month of the regular season as he began to return to form.
The playoffs have been a similar story so far. He averaged 24.5 points with 50 percent shooting behind the arc in his first four games since the season. Over the next three, his score was almost halved to 14 points. He made only 21.4 percent of his 3 in these games. It is almost impossible to know every day which version of Thompson will appear: the superstar from the years of the Golden State dynasty or the recovering shell from the earlier days of this season.
The raw numbers weren’t quite there because it was a failure, but Thompson was the player who revealed this game widely. After tuning into some good middle-class jumpers in the first half, Thompson quickly sank with two 3s to open the third to help the Warriors fight 10-0. That turned a seven-point lead – which came with a lot of Memphis momentum after Ja Morant reduced the shot from half a court to close the second quarter – to a 17-point difference that the Grizzlies could not overcome.
This is the version of Thompson that the Warriors need to win the championship. He’s not as important to Golden State’s breach of possession as Curry, and he can’t bend defense as the ruler of the ball the way Poole does now, but he’s probably the best scorer in heat test history. The difference is that Warriors are very good and Warriors are potentially unstoppable. If this is the version of Clay that we get for the rest of the playoffs, the Warriors can absolutely win the championship.
Please check the checkbox to confirm that you want to subscribe.
Thank you for registering!
Keep track of your inbox.
I’m sorry!
There was an error processing your subscription.
3. In the area
We have three games in this series and Ja Morant has not yet been below 34 points. The warriors can’t really stop him. Without Gary Peyton II in the squad, the biggest hope they have worries him for a moment. They found a new way to do this in Game 3: Defending the Zone.
It was the occasional meandering ball that the Warriors used most often in the second quarter. The defense of the abuse zone and the crime will understand it. But Golden State knocked him out for 12 games in Game 3 and the results were largely positive. The idea of a zone for the most part is to force opponents to shoot at jumpers. The Grizzlies can certainly do that, but it’s not their greatest strength as a team. Of course, Golden State supported Memphis with a reasonable 12 points in those 12 dominions.
More importantly, mixing coatings makes crimes come to mind. This is a problem for a team like Grizzlies, which thrives in the frantic chaos of the transition, the search for inconsistencies and the offensive rebound. Golden State would win this match no matter what. The Warriors scored 142 points. But at least they’ve found a way to keep Morant on his toes, and that’s an important wrinkle for the rest of this series.
Add Comment