Warriors 125, Grizzlies 117
1. Soft on the Perimeter
The Warriors are thought of as a finesse team because they play small and fast, score a lot of points, and are a mediocre-to-bad defensive team (23rd in points allowed per possession coming into the game). But what was noticeable tonight was how much more physical the Warriors were than the Grizzlies, especially on the perimeter, where Warriors starters Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, and Stephen Jackson were much stronger and quicker than Grizzlies counterparts Damon Stoudamire, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Mike Miller.
Warriors perimeter players were beating the Grizzlies to spots all night, especially in getting into the paint and on the glass. Tonight, the Warriors scored 68 points in the paint without having any real post players on the team. Seven-footer Andris Biedrins did score 12 points on 5-6 shooting, but most of this damage was done by penetration from perimeter players, who routinely beat the Grizzlies off the dribble and got into the paint, where they encountered little resistance (more on that in a minute).
With Stoudamire, Navarro, and Miller physically overmatched, they needed to make up for it in the skill department, with superior passing and shooting. The passing was there early, as Miller and Stoudamire combined for 9 assists in the game’s first nine minutes as the Grizzlies went up 32-22, but shooting struggles proved to be the team’s undoing.
2. The Overwhelming Importance of Three-Point Shooting
I’ve been hammering this all season, but perhaps no game this season has illustrated how much this Grizzlies team depends on three-point shooting than tonight’s did. The Grizzlies shot 9-29 (31%) from three on the game, which isn’t terrible on the surface, but also isn’t generally good enough. On the season, the team is now 5-4 when they hit 10 or more threes, 2-13 when they don’t.
And what’s so intimidating is that the Grizzlies don’t just have to be good from three to win. They have to be great. In losses this season, the Grizzlies have shot a respectable 37% as a team on threes, with 36% and 40% shooting, respectively, from Mike Miller and Juan Carlos Navarro. In wins, the team has shot 42% from three with 52% and 42% shooting from Miller and Navarro, respectively. Essentially, the Grizzlies are so bad defensively and, with Gasol either slumping or injured most of the season, so erratic in the post that they have to hit a lot of threes to score enough to win. And, against a very good offensive team in Golden State, that need is compounded.
The Grizzlies were terrible from beyond the arc through three quarters (1-16). The offense was running well enough and Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift were effective enough going to the rim that the Grizzlies were able to hang around anyway. But when adversity hit the team buckled, like it has most of the season, and with the shots not falling, just couldn’t keep up with Golden State, which went on a 22-2 run over a six-minute stretch between the first and second quarters. During that stretch, the Grizzlies went 0-4 from three and didn’t have a field goal.
If bad three-point shooting buried the team in the second and third quarters, it was good three-point shooting that almost got the team back into the game, shooting 8-13 from deep in a 40 point fourth quarter in which the Grizzlies were able to cut the deficit to six points with 2:29 to play. But, at that point, it was too late, especially since the Grizzlies couldn’t get any stops.
3. Where Was Stro?
I didn’t quite understand coach Marc Iavaroni’s decision to go with Hakim Warrick at center down the stretch. Warrick came in for Stromile Swift, who was having a fairly effective game, at the 3:21 mark of the third quarter and played the rest of game. Warrick is probably the worst interior defender in the team’s frontcourt rotation and, during this final stretch, 10 of Golden State’s 12 field goals were lay-ups or dunks.
The Grizzlies were cutting into the lead after finding their collective three-point stroke, but couldn’t get the defensive stops the team needed because the Warriors were consistently getting to the rim and finishing mildly contested shots. With Darko Milicic ineffective in his limited minutes tonight and still hobbled by his sprained ankle (which he tweaked tonight), it was understandable that did didn’t get the call, but Swift, who can guard the rim and still close out on shooters as well as Warrick would almost certainly have give the team more of a defensive presence. And it’s not like Warrick was lighting it up offensively or making an impact on the boards, as he scored 5 points and grabbed 2 rebounds in 23 minutes tonight.
Hard not to second-guess Iavaroni on this one.
The Jacob Riis Report: I’ve been knocking around the idea of the Warriors Mickeal Pietrus as a potential trade target for the Grizzlies, as he certainly seems to be available. The Grizzlies need a strong, quick defender on the wing who can run the floor and knock down open shots. Essentially, they need to find the next Bruce Bowen or Raja Bell, both journeymen who took a few years to develop as stoppers with pop. Pietrus seems like a candidate for that role. He’s still on 25, has the requisite physical tools, and can knock down shots. He only played 16 minutes tonight and committed 5 fouls, but also went 2-3 from three-point range and had 3 rebounds and a steal in his minutes. One problem with trading for him is that he’s in the last year of his deal, so even if he did have the potential to develop into the kind of role player the Grizzlies need, you might lose him at the end of the season. A player to keep an eye on, though.
Deflections:
Overheard: When Stephen Jackson went in for easy lay-up to put the Warriors up 19 early in the third quarter, I heard boo birds for the first time this season, And, of course, there was one guy who saw it as an excuse to heckle Pau Gasol, who was wearing street clothes on the injured list tonight. “Get in there Gasol,” the guy bellowed derisively. For some fans, truly, everything is Gasol’s fault.
Overheard #2: When Juan Carlos Navarro knocked down his first three, an African-American gentleman behind me remarked to his friend, with absolutely no attempt at humor: “You know, at first I thought he was too small and too white.”
Rudy Gay tied his career high (set Saturday in Orlando) with 32. He might have had more, but foul trouble limited him to only 38 minutes.
Marc Iavaroni suggested in his post-game press conference that Michael Conley should be back on the court in the next couple of weeks. Looks like a probable early January return for Conley.
