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Despite a gap of 15 points in the final, the Grizzlies continued their momentum against the opponents of elimination level. But beating defending champion Golden State Warriors, at full power and with something to play, turned out to be a bridge too far away.
The Grizzlies (30-45) built a double-digit advance in the first half and recovered a three-digit deficit in the third quarter to make it a game again, taking a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter .
But the second wave of warriors was a drowning. The Warriors (51-23), still competing for the best seed of the Western Conference playoffs, closed the game 27-11 to advance to a 118-103 victory. Kevin Durant scored 12 goals in the fourth quarter, although this race also included his only missed game. Durant finished with a line of 28-9-5, his 12 out of 13 players recording the best single-shot (percentage) shooting performance of one of the NBA's best shooting careers.
Along the way, Mike Conley overtook Marc Gasol to take his place at the top of the scoring charts, scoring 22 points tonight, allowing him to reach 11,700 points in career, against 11,684 as a Grizzly.
Expressing before the match, Conley did not know how much he would play again this season, but said that he thought it would not be his final on the playing field. The Grizzlies will be leaving this weekend. end for a four-game journey, but will play two more games at FedExForum this season.
Speaking of Gasol, the new center, Jonas Valanciunas, took care of the Grizzlies battle for several years against his monster DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins.
From the beginning, Valanciunas took care of all the defenders that the Warriors had thrown at him: Cousins, his team-mate Draymond Green and substitute Kevon Looney. Valanciunas scored 14 points in the first nine minutes of the match, 7-10 shots, but early exploits may have made it too aggressive.
Valanciunas shot 5-15 the rest of the way (the Warriors against with the biggest backup center Andrew Bogut in the second half) while getting 5 fouls and a technician. Valanciunas is still leading the Grizzlies with 27 points and 13 boards.
On this last front, it was doubled by Bruno Caboclo, whose 13 rebounds added to the cavalcade of senior career Grizzlies at the end of the season. Caboclo also scored 17 points.
But, as half of the building came to see the warriors, pay homage to them.
THE SCORE OF THE BOX: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors
The Warriors seem more vulnerable than at any point in their journey, including the year they really lost in the final.
They have less depth of quality than ever before. They have traveled many miles over many years of decisive series. And their chemistry seems more tense now.
By presenting their traveling roadshow in FedExForum, they did not demonstrate the pleasure you had noticed earlier in their time together, but rather a sort of stealth challenge that they could always invoke to overwhelm all visitors during the post-season. season.
When Steph Curry (28-10-7) and Klay Thompson (a night of rest at 13 points on 5-12 shots) bombard deep and Durant (28-9-5) enters the longest and most incredibly long corridors smooth. In the history of hoops, these Golden State Warriors remain a unique show in the annals of the sport and there may be only a few months left.
It was a defeat for the Grizzlies, but it was much more competitive than the final score indicates.
"Our goal is only to become a better basketball team and to be as competitive as possible," said coach J. B. Bickerstaff. "I think these games are fun."
Clip of the night
Conley's Disk Recovery Rider:
Mike Conley breaks a 3-pointer to become the @memgrizz best scorer of all time! #GrindCity pic.twitter.com/J4TCV24B6g
– NBA (@NBA) March 28, 2019
The Grizzlies had prepared a great tribute-career video honoring their opportunity and showed it on the Jumbotron with an ovation, including that of Warriors players.
That puts Conley in pretty company:
MIke Conley did everything for Memphis. pic.twitter.com/dfqmHe5xdy
– Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 28, 2019
The growth of Bruno's game
For all the exploits of Mike Conley and Jonas Valanciunas, the most fascinating thing that is happening on the ground as the end of the Grizzlies season approaches may well be the growth of Bruno Caboclo's game.
Two nights after the best game of his career, Caboclo was probably the second best match of his career. (And his second double-double career two nights after his first.)
From the moment he arrived in Memphis, Caboclo was tempted by a roomsbut he has rarely chained long periods of good to play. It's starting to change.
A first round of three takes tonight was emblematic of this advance: rolling in front of Draymond Green, former defensive player of the year, ending with a roll to the finger, then demolish Boogie Cousins at the station, then go back to resume a offensive rebound.
Offensively, Caboclo scored 17 points on 7-13 shots, including 3-4 on three, 8 (!) Offensive rebounds and 3 badists. He scored a three corner in the first minute of the match, which has become a trend. He installed Chandler Parsons with a nice transition badistant. He embarked and converted a Conley missile into one movement and finished another putback with a half-dunk too rare.
Defensively, Caboclo had two blocks and one flight and skillfully controlled four of the five starters of the Warriors. (Curry was asking too much and Durant can hit the jumpers in fadeaway over anyone.) His best defensive possession was a Klay Thompson close, where he cut the drive, stayed on the ground and denied the jumper.
What is changing?
"It's thanks to trust and a certain freedom," said Bickerstaff. "He does not feel like being restrained. He was given an opportunity and let him play. It allows his skill set to show … and determine where he can operate and what he can do. Once that happens, once he is able to reproduce it in his head, he knows he can come back to it. "
To transmit or not to transmit
The defeat of the Grizzlies made them a half-game over the pelicans of New Orleans, who occupy the 9th place before the lottery and are tied with the Wizards of Washington for the 7/8 places. The Wizards were playing in Phoenix, in a game that started later.
Style elements
This possession of cleaning duty was a sight to be seen in real time:
Go Grizzlies pic.twitter.com/hYgJ5Nk4Lb
– Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 28, 2019
Action of arena
There were three technical fouls in this match and Boogie Cousins did not have the slightest mistake.
Durant, had one at the end of the second quarter and headed to the scorer's table to shout loudly in front of an innocent notepad: "(BLEEP) me! (BLEEP) me! "
(When a fan kindly rebuked him for sending low-level guests to their fainting sofas, Durant said, "I'm at work, big dog, let me do it."
Between the Durant fanatics and the half-time S & M roller-skating show, this Grizzlies match was pretty good as NSFW.
Do not believe this second evaluation? Here are some seconds opinions from reliable local media sources:
New addition to half-time rotation – we look at what appears to be a sensual ice dance, except on roller skates, involving two extremely fit artists who are ready to play on the field. I'm here for free erotic skateboarding, great stuff
– Peter Edmiston (@peteredmiston) March 28, 2019
Calling this 50-part Shades of Skate act.
– John Beifuss (@JohnBeifuss) March 28, 2019
On a less awkward note in the arena, the new local group (ish) JCKSN AVE, consisting of five sisters, sang the anthem and then played at half-time (to soothe our troubled memories of this skate story ).
I'm pretty sure it was a top 10 or top 5 in the history of FedExForum. They sounded pretty good by making their own song in half. She wrote about the band recently.
Tweets were watching
Hey, I have two children. Mike Conley is not the only guy here to have daddy jokes.
How did they call Kevin Durant when he jumped the clbad? pic.twitter.com/tmkLykSzUM
– Chris Herrington (@HerringtonNBA) March 27, 2019
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