The way players are getting injured and suspended in this series hopefully enough remain to take the court on Wednesday when the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies resume their Western Conference semifinal with Game 5. Both teams have had questionable fouls with the Warriors getting the better of the duel when Jordan Poole took out Griz star Ja Morant in Game 3. Winning the series was going to be difficult with Ja playing at a high level, it’s nearly impossible if he misses games. If the Warriors do close out the series I guess Poole is the Dubs’ MVP.
The NBA Playoff game between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies will air live on TNT with tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 from FedEx Forum in Memphis. BookMaker.eu will have betting options for every game on the NBA playoff schedule.
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Playoff Analysis
Coming off their Game 2 loss, the Warriors made some adjustments and I think they were pissed about what happened to Gary Payton. Taking a tumble when getting fouled on a layup attempt, Payton sustained an elbow injury that will keep him out for the rest of the series. Steve Kerr used the moment as a rallying cry for his team, saying Dillon Brooks “broke the code” when committing the foul. Depending on which team you root for depends on how you viewed the play, either way Brooks was suspended for Game 3 and the Warriors turned what was a relative close game at halftime into a 30-point romp. The Dubs are hard to beat when they shoot the ball as well as they did in Game 3, of course every team is going to win when shooting 63 percent from the field and 53 percent from three-point range. That’s even absurd for the Warriors.
It turned out to be a bad tradeoff for the Griz. In retaliation for the foul on Payton, the Warriors were successful taking out the Grizzlies’ best player. Morant had a big night in the Game 2 win going for 47 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. The Warriors’ strategy is simple; they aren’t going to let Morant beat them. So, if Morant doesn’t play in Game 5 someone is going to have to step up. There were several who did that during the season, especially when Morant missed games. The Griz had a sparkling record without Morant, but in playoff crunch time it would sure be nice to have him out there. The Griz were without Brooks for Game 3 as he served a suspension, but they welcomed him back to the lineup on Monday.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors got a split in the first two games barely losing Game 2 despite a monster outing from Morant. Getting back to the Bay Area they put a serious beat down on the second best team during the regular season. You could say the Warriors could’ve easily been up three games instead of having to make a return trip to Memphis. If they shoot the ball close to how well they did in Game 3 they’ll win a lot of games.
“When we’re getting good shots, the chances of Klay getting hot are much greater, and when he gets hot our team takes on a different look. We just become much tougher to guard,” Steve Kerr said. Thompson hit 8 of 13 overall and 4 of 6 from behind the arc and the Dubs shot better than 63 percent getting their first payout in five games with OVER at 6-2 this postseason.
Memphis Grizzlies
The bad news is that Morant’s status for the remainder of the series is in question. The good news is that the Griz won a bunch of games when Morant sat during the season. We’ve seen how good Memphis is when they have their roster intact. They did after all finish with the second best record in the NBA. And they can’t afford to get distracted by the extracurricular stuff that happened.
If Morant is healthy enough to play and the Griz stick to playing basketball and don’t retaliate to Golden State’s shenanigans there is no reason for them to lose. And I know for certain the Warriors aren’t going to shoot the ball as well as they did in Game 3. They will need someone else to chip in, though, so it’s time for Brooks, Desmond Bane and/or Jaren Jackson to step up.
Warriors at Grizzlies NBA Odds Pick
It’s hard to pick against the Warriors since it seems like Memphis poked the sleeping bear. The Dubs poked back and the Griz still have some fight. They were the second-best team in the Association after all and they aren’t going down easily, even if Morant doesn’t play.
NBA Odds Prediction: Memphis Grizzlies / OVER
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