MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Before the Grizzlies stretched the lead beyond 50 points, before Mike Brown pulled his starters in the middle of the third quarter of a jaw-dropping playoff beatdown, the Warriors had a chance to minimize the damage late in the first quarter.
The Memphis lead was only three points when Steph Curry — near half court, while putting in his mouthguard — decided to loft a slow-developing pass toward a wandering Klay Thompson in the lane. Desmond Bane deflected it, Kyle Anderson stole it, and De’Anthony Melton hit a 3 within five seconds.
That was part of an 8-0 Memphis run in under a minute. But there was still an opportunity to slice it back to something more manageable with a controlled possession and score right before the quarter closed.
Controlled, though, was the opposite of the Warriors’ offensive approach Wednesday night. They toggled between frantic and languid. Draymond Green said they were “sped up”, but not in the right ways. They wandered into danger and often opted for the highest-risk choice.
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Back to that final first-quarter possession. There was a five-second difference between the shot and game clocks. If they executed properly, the Warriors had a chance to bleed it down and get a shot off late enough to limit Memphis’ chance to get another possession.
But Jordan Poole instead weaved to a dead spot on the floor, picked up his dribble and tried a bounce pass that had zero chance of getting past Anderson’s long arms. The mistake was then compounded. Right after Anderson intercepted it, Poole ran over and committed a purposeful foul to stop the transition.
That would have made sense early in the quarter, before Memphis was in the bonus. But there were 10 seconds left and the Grizzlies had been in the bonus for several minutes. It’s quite possibly the worst time to commit such an intentional foul, giving the opponent a pair of free throws before the quarter ends.
That’s the point at which Curry said Game 5 slipped away. The Warriors ended up losing in a rout, 134-95. Memphis won the second and third quarters by a combined 42 points. That type of decision-making late in the first quarter was a warning sign of what was to come.
But there were several second-quarter opportunities to turn the momentum, to lock back into a focused mindset, to generate a run and strip the Grizzlies, without Ja Morant, of their growing confidence. But every time a window opened, a terrible turnover shut it for the Warriors.
An example: With five minutes left in the second quarter, the Warriors were on a mini-run. The lead was only 11. Memphis missed a shot. Curry gathered the rebound. The Warriors pushed it into the frontcourt. Curry threw a bounce pass to Green on the move with a smaller defender in front.
Had Green gathered, moved past Melton and put in a layup, the lead would have sliced to nine, probably prompting Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins to take a timeout. But Green just dropped a pass that was right in his hands. The ball bounced to Melton, and he pushed it upcourt to Tyus Jones, who hit a 3 four seconds later. The lead spiked to 14. That is a massive swing.
This next clip shows the following possession. The Warriors were in a panic, and their lineup choice was an offensive hindrance. They’ve purposefully avoided having Green and Kevon Looney on the floor together in this series because of the spacing trouble. But the Grizzlies were beating them up on the glass, and Brown went searching for an interior defensive answer and put them on the floor together.
Look at this screenshot. Green, standing past the free-throw line, is passing to Looney, out past the 3-point line on the right wing. Steven Adams and Jaren Jackson Jr. are their two defenders. Both are parked in the lane, far away.
What did that lead to? A scattered dribble-handoff attempt from Looney that got botched and turned into two more transition points from Melton a few seconds later. The lead rose to 16.
By this point, the Warriors had lost all composure. Their next trip down was another brutal turnover. But, again, check out the screenshot for the spacing problem. This was taken the moment before Green attempted a backdoor pass to Curry. Jackson is backed completely off Green and Adams — technically guarding Looney — and is 15 feet away, ignoring him and waiting to double Curry.
If that’s a shooter on the left wing instead of Looney, it’s an easy pass for Green and an open jumper. But it isn’t a shooter, and Green is in force-the-issue, traffic-cop mode.
Poole and Curry were scattered around to nowhere, and Green just decided to thread a bounce pass into a sea of bodies. Even if the pass had been completed, Curry wouldn’t have had much room. But it wasn’t completed. It bounced out of bounds. Melton got an and-1 a possession later, and the lead grew to 19.
Otto Porter Jr. was the perfect fifth option in several Warriors lineup combinations during the two home games. He handled the interior, rebounded well and hit seven 3s. But he was low-impact in his first-half minutes Wednesday and sat the second half with foot soreness. His status for Game 6 is uncertain.
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That’s one of several issues surfacing for the Warriors. Steve Kerr is still in the health-and-safety protocols, and the sense from the Warriors is that he’s unlikely to be cleared in time to coach Game 6.
But this is on the superstars. They were the main characters in what was the Warriors’ worst playoff performance since the dynasty came to form. They had 22 turnovers, gave up 18 offensive rebounds and were down by 41 points when they were subbed out for good in the middle of the third quarter.
Curry hasn’t shot it well this series. He’s at 32 percent from deep, having failed to hit more than five 3s in any game. For the Warriors to look like a legit title threat again, he needs to rediscover a 40-plus-percent stroke.
Poole, as in the Denver series, has disappeared for Games 4 and 5 after a terrific three-game opening to the series. He was a minus-34 in 20 minutes Wednesday night, missing five of his six shots and committing four of those 22 turnovers. The Warriors leaped back into the championship conversation because of his third-season emergence. They’ll vanish from it if the potent version doesn’t reappear.
Green has never been defined by his offensive numbers, but his turnover output is a loud indicator of what’s been a rough series against Memphis, a long team that’s playing him to pass and begging him to score. Despite it, Green has five, four, four, two and five turnovers and only six, six, five, two and five points in the five games. That’s 20 turnovers and 24 points.
“You have to go away from pressure, and I feel like we’re going into pressure,” Green said. “Really, all series we’ve been sped up. Just have to slow down.”
Thompson was the Warriors’ best player in Game 5, making 7 of 12 shots after three extremely inefficient games in the past week. That’s a positive sign, especially with Game 6 looming Friday night. The Warriors shouldn’t need vintage Game 6 Klay in San Francisco to eliminate a team playing without Morant. But they do need their stars to play better.
Klay Thompson: “It was awful. It was embarrassing.” pic.twitter.com/PAxlNYMd1J
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 12, 2022
(Top photo of Steph Curry: Karen Pulfer Focht / Associated Press)