Kurtenbach: The Warriors channeled the Sacramento Kings in Game 4. That
must be a one-off
Golden State Warriors – Memphis Grizzlies: The Warriors won Game 4, but
as Steph Curry said, they played like the Sacramento Kings. That can't
happen again if they want to win an NBA title.
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 9: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen
Curry (30) celebrates after making a basket in the fourth quarter
against Memphis Grizzlies at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, May 9, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 9: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen
Curry (30) celebrates after making a basket in the fourth quarter
against Memphis Grizzlies at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, May 9, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: May 10, 2022 at 4:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 10, 2022 at 4:42 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/10/kurtenbach-the-warriors-channelled-the-sacramento-kings-in-game-4-that-must-be-a-one-off/

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors and Grizzlies went from hurting each other
to hurting the rim.

They went from disrespecting The Code to disrespecting The Game.

And the Warriors went from championship contenders to the Kings.

Thank goodness Steph Curry stepped in when he did in Monday’s Game 4,
scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Dubs to a 101-98 win
and a 3-1 series lead.

But the Warriors’ Game 4 win should not be lionized.

This wasn’t a case of “championship DNA” separating Golden State in the
final moments of the game. There was nothing gritty, gutsy or special
about it. Yes, the Warriors “won ugly,” but that should not be
considered a compliment in this circumstance.

Everything about Game 4 was nasty.

For all those folks claiming that this series and its physicality was
better suited for the 1980s and 90s, you received equally appropriate
shooting performances from both teams.

Monday’s game was played to be forgotten.

Now it’s on the Warriors to make sure that it is.

Because, despite the win, the Warriors didn’t look anything like a
championship contender Monday.

For 98 percent of the game, they looked unserious. They looked lifeless.
They looked hapless.

They looked like the Sacramento Kings.

And that’s not me slandering the purple and white.

No, that’s Curry.

“You talk about historically bad shooting. A lot of history was made,”
Curry told TNT after the game. “I felt like we got traded to the Kings
overnight.”

Curry even put on purple shoes in the fourth quarter to honor the team’s
transformation.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 9: Golden State Warriors' Stephen
Curry (30) changes his shoes in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of a
second-round NBA basketball playoff series at Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Monday, May 9, 2022. The Golden State Warriors
defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 101-98. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area
News Group)
(Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

(In his postgame presser, Curry did try to spin this quote as a
“misunderstanding” related to the Kings’ hiring of Warriors assistant
coach Mike Brown. The attempt fell as short as Dillon Brooks’ 3-point
attempts in this series.)

Or maybe the Warriors looked like another Northern California team — the
49ers. If that was the case, then the Dubs might have been better off
pulling George Kittle and Trey Lance out of the front row of the Chase
Center crowd and into the game.

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“When we went in (for halftime), (assistant coach) Chris DeMarco says
‘Punch 42. Dive 52,’ ” Brown said, mimicking a football play caller
after acting as the Warriors’ head coach with Steve Kerr in isolation.
“We just kept handing the ball off the fullback left and right and, at
the end, we kicked a field goal to win it.”

Regardless, the 49ers haven’t won a title in nearly 30 years. The Kings
have moved four times since they last won the championship in 1951.

If the Warriors want to win a fourth title in eight years, they might
want to play like, well, the Warriors again.

After the Warriors scored 142 points in Game 3, and with Memphis missing
its best player, Ja Morant, Monday’s game should have never been close.

The Grizzlies held up their end of the bargain. They had an effective
field goal percentage of 44 percent Monday. Woof.

Yet the Grizz led for the first 47-plus minutes of the game.

And while Memphis had an excuse for its poor play, the Warriors did not.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 9: Golden State Warriors assistant
coach Mike Brown coaches from the sideline against the Memphis Grizzlies
in the first quarter of Game 4 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff
series at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, May 9, 2022.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Yes, there was weirdness. Brown, announced Monday morning as the Kings’
new head coach, was thrust into an interim head coaching role with the
Warriors on Monday after Kerr tested positive for COVID. But while I
think Kerr’s a great coach, his presence on the sidelines is not worth
20-plus points a night. No sir.

Luckily, Curry took over. He went full fullback with 45 seconds to play
in a one-point game and drove right at the basket, looking for a foul.
He got one.

It was cynical — downright antithetical to the Warriors’ style of play,
even — but it was also smart. It provided the Warriors with their first
lead of the game. Draymond Green’s block of Jaren Jackson’s 3-pointer
sealed the victory.

All of it put the Warriors in a position to clinch this second-round
series in Memphis on Wednesday with Morant sidelined as he recovers from
a bone bruise in his knee.

And with the Suns and Mavericks suddenly tied at 2-2 on the other side
of the bracket, the Warriors have a chance to seize control of the
Western Conference playoffs once again.

But first, they have to regain control of their good sense and
top-flight play.

Much like Curry’s foul-hunting, the Kings are downright antithetical to
the playoffs, so Monday must be the last time the Warriors channel their
NorCal neighbors.

They got away with it Monday.

That will be the only time that happens this postseason.