Warriors vs. Grizzlies: 3 things you need to know

Not even Anthony Davis and his otherworldly debut playoff performance could slow down the Golden State Warriors. Missing Mike Conley for at least a few games, it’s unlikely the Memphis Grizzlies can grit-and-grind their way to doing so, either.

Memphis looked terrific in their disposal of the Portland Trail Blazers in five games, closing out the series without the services of Conley for Games 4 and 5. But his absence will be the biggest story of the series, especially after Steph Curry averaged 33.8 points on .453/.417/.853 shooting in Golden State’s four-game sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Calathes or Udrih?

The biggest question facing Dave Joerger is which reserve point guard to trust until Conley comes back, if he comes back at all. Curry is one of the two or three toughest checks at point guard in the entire league, but the Grizzlies’ starting lineup is structured such that Joerger may not be able to lean on a defense-first option there.

Nick Calathes stands to start and open games on Curry. The balding Greek isn’t necessarily a stopper, but he’s a ball hawk who consistently posts excellent steal rates - he ranked second only to teammate Tony Allen this season. But Calathes is a somewhat limited guard on the offensive end. He’s solid in the pick-and-roll, and can find his way into the paint, but he’s not a great finisher and he can’t shoot a lick from outside.

Considering the Grizzlies’ projected starting lineup is thin on perimeter ball-handlers, Joerger faces the option of starting Jeff Green and sacrificing wing defense, running the offense even more through Marc Gasol at the elbows (he averaged more frontcourt touches per game than any other big except for Blake Griffin this season), or leaning more heavily on Beno Udrih.

Udrih’s limited mobility negates a lot of the positives he provides on defense, but he’s a more natural and capable scorer than Calathes. It’s a bit of a Sophie’s Choice for Joerger.

Does Kerr #FreeLee freely?

David Lee missed the final game of the regular season and the first three games of the playoffs due to a back injury, then received a DNP-CD in Game 4. With his role minimized all season thanks to injuries, defensive shortcomings and the emergence of Draymond Green as a max-level player, Lee’s mostly an afterthought in the Bay Area despite a $15-million salary.

But as Lee pointed out, the Grizzlies play two traditional bigs and employ another off the bench. If there were ever an opponent against whom Lee would see his utility increase, it’s Memphis. He’ll force Zach Randolph to work at the defensive end, adding an additional creator from the elbows and prevent the 6-foot-7 Green from getting too worn out guarding behemoths.

In the two meetings with Memphis he played in, the Warriors were outscored by 21 points in Lee's 31 minutes, a bad sign if head coach Steve Kerr does decide to dust him off. If the rest has done him well or Kerr has some magic up his sleeve, maybe Golden State can tilt the series even further - Lee averaged 18 points and 9.3 rebounds in three meetings against the Grizzlies last season.

Does any of this matter?

There’s always value in breaking things down, but it seems like there’s a pretty good chance that bandwidth is being wasted on the subject. The Warriors have been unbelievable. They went 67-15 in the regular season and outscored opponents by 10.1 points per game and 11.4 points per 100 possessions. They swept a very good Pelicans team with an average win margin of eight points.

All season long, it’s seemed nobody - not even the teams who beat them - has been able to outplay the Dubs for long, except for the San Antonio Spurs, who still have a long road ahead of them just to secure a meeting with Golden State.

As good as the Grizzlies can be, it’s easy to picture this series being five relatively tight games that Memphis tries to grind out, coming up short in four of them. That’s more or less how the season series played out too - Golden State took two of three meetings, winning and losing close games with a blowout victory mixed in.

Projected Starting Lineups

Series Outlook