There was a refereeing decision that could have marred Game 1 of the Western Conference Semis on Sunday.
Instead, the Warriors rallied for an electrifying second half led by 31 points from Jordan Poole off the bench in a final-minute, 117-116 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The ejection
This is obviously the most significant point in the game, and it’s what made the win so much sweeter for Golden State.
Draymond Green was tossed for this foul on Brandon Clarke, which the referees deemed a flagrant 2. No one, other than the eager Memphis fans, concurred with the assessment. ESPN’s rules analyst Steve Javie called it a flagrant 1.
Just about everyone chimed in on the foul call and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone defending it.
The question seems to be, if it was just about anyone other than Green, would there have been an ejection? The consensus is that there would not have been.
The other part of the ejection is that the NBA tallies flagrant fouls. So, if Green tallies another flagrant 2 or a couple of flagrant 1 fouls, he’ll be suspended for a game. Given the result the last time he had an ignominious suspension, that is a possibility the Warriors would obviously like to avoid.
Warriors’ second-half resilience sparked by Poole
Don’t say it too loud, but the Warriors played a lot better in the second half without Green than with him. They played a bit looser, weren’t as disjointed or fouling as much, and their scorers and playmakers started to cook.
It begs the question if the Warriors were leaning too much on Green to run the usual dribble hand-offs in the high post.
Steve Kerr has been reluctant to lean on pick-and-rolls as the main focal point of the offense for years because it can be predictable, but the Warriors were much more free-flowing in the second half by letting they playmakers, well, play, and not setting up the offense as much.
While he’d had a shaky couple of games and looked off early, Jordan Poole was massive in this one, in his first game off the bench in these playoffs. He got on the board with a nice back cut and started really getting going in the first half with a couple of back-to-back threes.
By the end of it, he’d finished with 31 points on 12-of-20 from the floor, 5-of-10 from 3 with 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
His passing was arguably as influential as his shooting, with him dishing some absolutely crucial, nifty passes to cutters for buckets Golden State had to have. And without Green — who left trying to energize the Warriors — Golden State managed to out-rebound Memphis 51-47, which they failed to do in the regular season.
Much of that rebounding and collective effort came from Andrew Wiggins (17 points and 8 rebounds) and Gary Payton II (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block), the latter of whom got his first playoff start. Both were outstanding defensively.
It was a relentless, chaotic game. The Warriors looked like they were on the comeback march, then looked like they’d thrown it away, before eventually pulling it together at the death.
After late misses from Klay Thompson (15 points on 6-of-19, 3-of-10 from 3) and Stephen Curry (24 points on 8-of-20, 5-of-12 from 3, with 4 assists and 3 rebounds), Thompson hit the go-ahead three inside of the final minute. You can’t bet on him and Curry missing from deep when it matters most.
Crucially, the Warriors got a stop on the ensuing possession, after Morant had caught fire late. Then, astonishingly, Thompson missed both free throws, no one secured the rebound and the referees called a jump ball with 4.8 seconds remaining.
Memphis snagged the jump ball and called timeout with 3.6 seconds on the clock.
Their game-winner attempt? An inbounds pass to Brandon Clark, followed by a quick dish to Morant, who bricked the layup for a Warriors win.
It was an enthralling, nonsensical, dumb game that nets the Warriors a road win to start the series.
Jaren Jackson Jr. is an issue
The Warriors gave Morant the Draymond Green treatment for most of the game. “Go ahead, shoot the three.”
And Morant came in with the sort of unparalleled confidence he’s known for, hitting two threes to open the game and another later, but he’s still wildly inconsistent with his shot.
But by the end of it, he was lights out, but as the dominant driving guard he is, not as a shooter. He had 34 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds and 3 steals, but missed at the final moment and missed a heavy dose of 3-point shots in the second half, going 4-of-11.
It was his teammate in the front court, Jaren Jackson Jr., though, who gave Golden State fits. He was lights-out in just about every aspect, and it feels like Memphis still could have gotten him more involved.
He has the size, athleticism and interior game that, especially without Green, the Warriors really struggled to defend. Couple that with him shooting 6-of-9 from three? That’s a menacing proposition.
Jackson Jr. drubbed them for 33 points on 10-of-18 shooting with 10 rebounds an a block. How the Warriors defend him going forward will be worth monitoring.