Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Warriors after loss: No need to panic
The Warriors expected a physical fight in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series with the Grizzlies. But to lose that game 106-101, and to lose a beloved defender to a fractured elbow? Those events they didn’t expect.
It created a mélange of emotions after the game — anger, disappointment, frustration.
Still, point guard Stephen Curry, the emotional center of the team, offered several reasons the Warriors didn’t plan to panic.
“It’s going to be a long three days with that feeling, but we understand what we need to do,” he said.
And also: “We’ve been in a lot of different series that’s taken a lot of twists and turns.”
And later: “Lot of adversity, a lot of adrenaline and emotion. We’ve just got to win four games somehow some way.”
The loss Tuesday night showed the challenge of the emotional balance the third-seeded Warriors pride themselves on having. As they attempt to win another championship, they’re finally getting to play in high-stakes games after a two-year postseason drought. With that comes the potential for highs, like their emotional 1-point win in Game 1 against the second-seeded Grizzlies, but also lows, like the way they felt after their loss Tuesday. The series, which is tied 1-1, will continue in San Francisco with Game 3 on Saturday.
“Everybody’s bummed out,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But it’s the playoffs, so everybody will shower up, and we’ll get on the plane and head home. We’re in a good spot.”
The two years during which the Warriors missed the playoffs made those players who had been through the championship years that much more wistful for the thrill of playoff stakes.
“I think it’s almost like a drug,” said assistant coach Ron Adams, who has been with the team since 2014.
Only six players from the last NBA Finals run, in 2019, remain, but they have returned to the playoffs with a deeper understanding of their emotions.
“I got excited after Game 1 because it was such a hardfought game, but as soon as I went back to the hotel that adrenaline wore off, and I realized it’s just one game, and it’s a marathon,” guard Klay Thompson, 32, said. “For me, I think I’m a lot more centered than I was our first time.”
On Tuesday morning, Kerr had said the Warriors expected Game 2 to be the most physical game the team had played all season.
It roiled their emotions, with the hostile Grizzlies crowd lifting the home team. Grizzlies guard Ja Morant scored 47 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, and the Grizzlies capitalized on the Warriors’ mistakes late. But the opening minutes set a tense tone.
Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks was ejected less than three minutes into the game, having received a flagrant-2 foul after swiping Gary Payton II across the head as Payton was in the air to try to make a basket. Payton fractured his elbow when he landed awkwardly.
“I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was dirty,” Kerr said, later accusing Brooks of jeopardizing Payton’s career.
Warriors forward Draymond Green also left the game in the first quarter after Xavier Tillman inadvertently elbowed him in the face. Hearing boos from the crowd, Green raised his middle fingers toward the fans as he left the court to get stitches above his right eye.
Green and Grizzlies fans were already on bad terms coming into the game. He had been ejected from Game 1 after a hard foul on Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke. On Tuesday, Green returned at the start of the second quarter with his eye nearly swollen shut.
All the while, the Warriors were figuring out how to recover from a hot Grizzlies start and Payton’s injury.
“It was like 8-0 at the time, so I was trying to get settled in the game,” Curry said. “... You’ve got to kind of settle back in emotionally. We did a really good job until the fourth.”
Brown helps Celtics tie series: Jaylen Brown scored 25 of his 30 points in the first half, and the Celtics beat the Bucks 109-86 on Tuesday night in Boston to even their Eastern Conference semifinal at one game apiece.
Brown shook off a dismal shooting night in Game 1, going 9-for-10 in the first half, including 5-for-5 from the 3-point line. Jayson Tatum added 19 points and eight assists. Al Horford had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Game 3 is Saturday in Milwaukee.
The second-seeded Celtics finished 20 of 43 from beyond the arc. They played without point guard Marcus Smart after he was ruled out before the game with a bruised right thigh.
The Celtics clamped down on Giannis Antetokounmpo after his triple-double powered the third-seeded Bucks in the opener, limiting him to 28 points — mostly in the third quarter — nine rebounds and seven assists.*