Kurtenbach: The Grizzlies ‘broke the code’ with dirty play. The Warriors
need to make them pay
Golden State Warriors 101 – Memphis Grizzlies 106: Dillon Brooks' dirty
play broke Gary Payton II's elbow and established a new tone to this
playoff series.
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve
Kerr checks on Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) after being
hit in the head during their game against the Memphis Grizzlies in the
first quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western
Conference playoff series at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on
Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve
Kerr checks on Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) after being
hit in the head during their game against the Memphis Grizzlies in the
first quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western
Conference playoff series at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on
Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: May 4, 2022 at 4:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 4, 2022 at 3:23 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/04/kurtenbach-the-grizzlies-broke-the-code-with-dirty-play-the-warriors-need-to-make-them-pay/

Before Game 2 of the Warriors’ second-round series against the
Grizzlies, coach Steve Kerr said that he expected the game to be the
most physical his team would play all year.

He was both right and wrong about that.

“That wasn’t physical. It was dirty,” Kerr told TNT after the first quarter.

The Warriors exited the cage match battered, bruised, down a member of
their roster and tied in the series after the Grizzlies won 106-101.

Draymond Green played three quarters with his eye swollen shut after he
took an elbow to the face. Both Steph Curry and Jordan Poole both spent
more time on the floor than at the free-throw line.

But the true subject of Kerr’s ire came in the first quarter, when the
Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks, with no discernible intent to make a
basketball play, came up from behind a leaping Gary Payton II, who was
attempting a layup, and bashed him in the head while pushing him in the
back.

Payton was understandably knocked off balance mid-flight and fell onto
his left arm, fracturing his elbow in the process, in all likelihood
ending his season.

[video of foul on Payton]

“I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was dirty,” Kerr said.
“Playoff basketball is supposed to be physical… But there’s a code in
this league. There’s a code that… you never put a guy’s season [or]
career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in mid-air and clubbing them
across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow.”

“The line is pretty clear,” Kerr continued. “You don’t hit a guy when
he’s in midair, club him and break his elbow. That’s where the line is.”

The Warriors might have lost the game and their starting two-guard
Tuesday, but they now have a clear objective.

The Grizzlies broke “the code” in Game 2. Not only did they revel in the
tainted victory, but the team also put out a social media post
advertising Game 5 tickets. The player they chose to adorn the post?

>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve
Kerr yells from the bench against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first
quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western Conference
playoff series at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 3,
2022.
(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

None other than Brooks.

Yes, the Warriors now need to make the Grizzlies pay.

Not by going an eye-for-an-eye. Bloodlust looks good on no one.

But the Warriors need to end Memphis’ season in a manner equally
unceremonious and sudden as the way Brooks ended Payton’s season Tuesday.

The Warriors have not lacked motivation in this postseason, but
Tuesday’s loss should be a galvanizing force for this team.

A little bit of anger and spite has gone a long way for the Dubs in past
playoff series. Now, any notion of this series being good-natured and
respectful is over.

If, indeed, this series is young vs. old, then the Warriors need to use
that old-man strength and put the kiddos in their place.

Lessons need to be taught.

These young, brash and downright reckless Grizzlies need to be
embarrassed on national television.

Because if they are not, don’t think for a second that they won’t try
the Game 2 playbook again.

>(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The Grizzlies know they cannot beat the Warriors straight-up, so they
have to go down low. And because Memphis is so inexperienced, its
efforts to muck up games come across as brutish. Masters of the Dark
Arts, these Grizzlies are not.

Do you know how I know the Grizzlies cannot beat the Warriors straight-up?

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Because Golden State shot 18 percent from the 3-point line in Game 2.
the Warriors turned the ball over 18 times. Klay Thompson went 5-for-19
from the floor and Memphis star Ja Morant scored 47 points.

And, still, Memphis won by only five points.

Would that margin have been the same had Payton been able to play more
than three minutes?

What if Green had not been called for a foul — Morant flopped! — while
trying to corral a crucial rebound with 50 seconds to play? That “foul”
resulted in two points for Memphis and a102-99 lead when the Warriors
should have had the ball in a one-point game.

Don’t get me wrong, the Warriors didn’t deserve to win Tuesday. They
should blame themselves first and foremost for the Game 2 loss. But
there is truth in the margins. Basketball’s gray area says the Warriors
played poorly and barely lost. That means something.

There is, however, no gray area when it comes to Brooks.

>(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

I wish I could trust the league office to do something with the Memphis
wing before Game 3 — for them to sort it out and bring some closure to
Tuesday’s event.

After all, it’s ludicrous that Green’s foul Sunday on Brandon Clarke and
Brooks’ foul on Payton on Tuesday are considered equal. Both were ruled
Flagrant 2 fouls, resulting in ejection from the game, but I don’t know
how anyone can say that what Brooks did was an accident.

It was a dirty play. There’s no other interpretation. And anything that
happens after that dirty play is on Brooks. Payton didn’t break his own
elbow.

It hardly seems appropriate that Payton be sitting on the sideline in a
cast for the rest of this series (and beyond) while Brooks is able to play.

If that does come to pass — and I expect that to be the case, because
the NBA has proven to be feckless on matters like this — then it’s on
the Warriors to dish out a punishment on the hardwood.

They need to beat the Grizzlies so badly that Morant & Co. would wish to
trade places with Payton.

The Warriors need to break the Grizzlies’ spirit like Brooks broke
Payton’s elbow.

It won’t bring Payton back into the fold, but it’s the next-best thing.