Warriors: Budding Memphis Grizzlies rivalry spices up Christmas Day game
even without Curry
Christmas game: Even without Curry, Warriors and Grizzlies' budding
rivalry worth the watch
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 7: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) guards Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant (12) in the second
quarter of Game 3 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series at
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, May 7, 2022. (Jose
Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: December 23, 2022 at 2:48 p.m. | UPDATED: December 23, 2022
at 2:48 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/12/23/warriors-budding-memphis-grizzlies-rivalry-spices-up-christmas-day-game-even-without-curry/

SAN FRANCISCO — The Christmas Day matchup between the Warriors and
Grizzlies isn’t what schedulers envisioned when they drew it up.

These two teams left each other in the ashes of a fiery Western
Conference semifinals last May that included dramatic ejections,
gruesome flagrant fouls, broken bones and plenty of biting trash talk.
This Grizzlies team had all the athleticism, youth and talent to outrun
the Warriors. Ultimately, the Warriors’ playoff experience and star
power won out.

It left the audience wanting more.

But in this Christmas rematch, the Warriors won’t look like the team
that won the Western Conference semifinals and ultimately the NBA title.
A shoulder injury has them without Steph Curry, the star around which
this team orbits. Plus, the defending champions are limping back home
after an ugly 1-5 East Coast trip with a disappointing 15-18 overall record.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are near healthy with Desmond Bane expected to
return from a sprained toe. They’re tied for first place in the Western
Conference with the Denver Nuggets with a 19-11 record. Unsurprisingly,
they’re the betting favorites to win the primetime Christmas matchup on
Sunday evening at the Chase Center.

Warriors fans may opt for some family time on Christmas instead of
sitting down to watch what could be a beatdown. But the budding rivalry
and a little familiarity from the playoffs could give the Warriors a
boost and fans a reason to watch.

“Anytime you play a team in the playoffs, a rivalry starts to form,”
coach Steve Kerr said. “If you want to talk historic rivalry, Lakers,
Celtics, whoever else, has multiple playoff series. There’s a lot of
respect, and with respect comes the chirping. It’s great for the fans
and both franchises to be in the position that we’re in. They’re on the
rise the last few years and we’re hoping to keep our run going and it’s
an exciting matchup.”

A budding rivalry could be enough to make this game worth watching. Even
without Curry. Here’s a look back at where those rivalry sparks flew.

- Klay Thompson versus Memphis

Basking in the glory and champagne of his fourth NBA title after downing
the Boston Celtics, Klay Thompson rehashed a few of the little
motivations that inspired him throughout the playoff run. Apparently,
the Celtics weren’t the only team on his mind.

A tweet from Grizzlies big Jaren Jackson Jr. nagged at him most. Jackson
tweeted ‘strength in numbers’ after a Grizzlies regular-season win over
the Warriors in March, a perceived dig at the Warriors’ one-time rally
cry and slogan. Thompson called out Jackson, not by name, but by insult.

“There is this one player on the Grizzlies who tweeted, ‘Strength in
numbers’ after they beat us in the regular season and it pissed me off
so much,” Thompson said. “I can’t wait to retweet that thing. Frigging bum.

“Going to mock us? Like, you ain’t ever been there before, bro. We been
there. We know what it takes. So to be here again: Hold that. Twitter
fingers, can you believe it?

“I’ve got a memory like an elephant. I don’t forget. There were a lot of
people kicking us down.”

- Broken codes and elbows

The semifinals kicked off with a little Draymond Green fire when he
committed a hard foul on Brandon Clarke, seeming to drag the Grizzlies
forward to the floor by his jersey while the pair were contesting at the
rim. Green was issued a flagrant 2 foul and ejected, he skipped and
taunted the Memphis crowd on his way to the locker room.

The Warriors wound up winning Game 1 by a missed Ja Morant layup at the
final buzzer. But Memphis upped the physicality in Game 2. And crossed a
line.

Dillon Brooks fouled Gary Payton II from behind so viciously on a
breakaway that Payton fell hard enough to fracture his elbow. Kerr said
Brooks “broke the code,” an unspoken rule that you do not commit hard
fouls when players are in a vulnerable position.

“I don’t know if it was intentional but it was dirty,” Kerr said then.
“There’s a code that players follow. You never put a guy’s season or
career in jeopardy by taking someone out in mid-air and clubbing him
across the head and ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow.”

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The Grizzlies took exception to Kerr’s comments. Brooks apologized to
Payton for the incident, but addressed Kerr saying, “I don’t even know
what that means in the playoffs. I did not even understand what he meant
by that.”

Payton later said there was “no bad blood” between him and Brooks. After
the Warriors captured the series in Game 6, Brooks and Payton met to
talk and Brooks apologized.

Tempers also flared when Morant’s knee injury cropped up after Game 3,
the Warriors up 2-1. Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins rolled his eyes when
he pinned the injury on Jordan Poole. Jenkins insinuated that Poole
grabbed Morant’s knee intentionally in order to injure the Grizzlies
star. Morant posted on Twitter and, minutes later, deleted a video of
Poole grabbing his knee with the caption, “broke the code.”

Payton left the Warriors for Portland in free agency after Golden State
won the title. But will the tension between Brooks, the Grizzlies and
the Warriors remain?

- A mutual respect

The Warriors used a little familiarity from their Finals matchup to beat
Boston on Dec. 14, one of their best wins of the season. Their
experience against the Grizzlies in the playoffs last season could
elevate play in this Christmas game, too.

“They have the same team for the most part,” Green said. “So you can
pull some things from there. In saying that, that’s the same team that,
a year later, there’s more confidence, more know how. Ja is better.
Saying that is crazy. Desmond Bane, when he was playing was much better
than he was last year. You start to look at that team, there’s things
you pull from because there’s similarities. But you still have to go out
there and do it.”

--
Shayna Rubin | General Assignment Sports Reporter
Shayna covers Bay Area sports for the Bay Area News Group. She covered
the Oakland A's from 2019 to 2021 and, most recently, the Golden State
Warriors' championship run in 2022. Shayna is a San Francisco native.