Playoff basketball has officially arrived. But it won’t include the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors battled back from a 13-point halftime deficit to force overtime against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, but ultimately could not seal the deal in a 117-112 loss, thus being eliminated from the NBA playoffs.
Steph Curry, who had an MVP-caliber season and carried the Warriors on his back for much of the season, led the way with 39 points while Draymond Green finished with 11 points, 10 assists and 16 rebounds in the loss.
It appeared as if the Warriors were going to mount an impressive comeback, tying the game up late in the fourth quarter and capitalizing on Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins’ failure to challenge a 3-point foul shot from Jordan Poole, who appeared to stick his leg out to draw the foul, with 1:44 remaining.
Poole pulled the Warriors within two by sinking all three of his free throws and the game was tied up with 33.2 seconds left with an Andrew Wiggins layup.
In overtime, Poole hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:51 left to put Golden State up 109-107, but Grizzlies’ Xavier Tillman hit a corner 3 to retake the lead and would not relinquish.
Ja Morant, who led the Grizzlies with 34 points, hit the dagger with 4.5 seconds left to give the Grizzlies a 114-109 lead.
The Warriors were ultimately undone by their sloppy play, turning the ball over 21 times. Meanwhile the Grizzlies outplayed the Warriors from beyond the arc, shooting 40.8% from 3-point range compared to Golden State’s 34.3%.
The Grizzlies will face the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday.
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