Category: Basketball

What we learned as Steph erupts for 52 in Warriors' pivotal win over Grizzlies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Welcome to the fifth seed, Warriors.

Opening their most important week of the season as they stared down a gauntlet on the schedule, a scorching hot Steph Curry and the Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 134-125 at FedExForum on Tuesday night. The win gave Golden State the season tiebreaker over Memphis, pushing the Warriors to the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.

Once again, a tone was set early. 

After dropping 44 points in the first quarter Sunday in a 42-point win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors scored 45 first-quarter points Tuesday night against the Grizzlies. That hot start proved to be extremely important. 

For the umpteenth time this season and in his storied 16-year NBA career, Curry proved to be appointment viewing in the Warriors’ win. Get your popcorn ready. It’s playoff push time, and the four-time champion is ready to roar.

Curry scored 52 points and made 12 3-pointers, giving him his second game with at least 50 points and 12 threes this season. He also fell just two assists shy of a triple-double, grabbing 10 rebounds. Adding to a historic night, Curry also had five steals.

Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green also rose to the occasion. Butler did it all with 27 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Green stuffed the stat sheet as always, finishing with a 13-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double.

Here are three takeaways from Curry’s sizzling night in Memphis.

Can’t Stop Steph

While the Warriors beat the Grizzlies in their previous matchup, they did so without Curry. The last time Curry played against the Grizzlies, he had perhaps the worst game of his career, being held to two points and didn’t make a single shot. Yes, the greatest shooter of all time went 0 of 7 from the field, missed all six of his 3-point attempts and was a minus-41 in 24 minutes on Dec. 19, 2024. 

More than three months later, Curry and the Warriors exacted their revenge. 

Grizzlies rookie Jaylen Wells, along with anybody else who tried to guard Curry, found themselves in a nightmare from the opening tip. Curry made his first five shots, including his first four 3-point attempts. He finished the first quarter scoring 19 points in 11 minutes, going 7 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 on threes, also adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals. 

His encore was 13 more points and three more 3-pointers in the second quarter, giving Curry 32 points and eight threes at halftime. Curry’s 32 points were his most going into halftime this season, and his eight threes tied his career high for a half.

He reached 40 points with six and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Curry entered the fourth quarter with eight minutes to go and the Warriors ahead 109-107. Over the final eight minutes of the game, Curry scored seven points and made his 12th and final three.

Big Three

This wasn’t a complete one-man show where Curry had to carry the Warriors on his back. It was, for the most part, surely. Butler and Green had their fingerprints on the win, too.

Green got the scoring going by hitting a three to start the game. Butler made his first five shots and went into halftime having 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Though Green’s shot went cold after his opening three, he had seven points, four rebounds and six assists through the first two quarters.

On a night when Curry scored 52 points, anything from Butler and Green was a welcome addition for the Warriors. Butler scored 10 points in the fourth quarter alone, and Green only added to his Defensive Player of the Year case as he battled Jaren Jackson Jr.

As Butler and Green combined to score 40 points, fellow starters Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody combined to score 18.

Free Throws Fix 3-Point Issues 

Zach Edey was taken with the No. 9 pick in last June’s NBA draft. Quinten Post didn’t have his name called until the 52nd pick. Yet both rookie centers have been huge to their team’s success.

Their skill sets are about as different as one can imagine, despite both being 7-footers. Edey, while trying to expand his outside shot, is an old-school center whose size was tough for the Warriors to handle. The former Purdue star was a team-high plus-15, tallying 10 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.

Post is a new-age stretch-five who has been the Warriors’ most reliable 3-point shooter behind Curry. He also didn’t play in any of the Warriors’ three previous games against the Grizzlies this season. In his first matchup with Edey and the Grizzlies, Post made his mark, hitting three 3-pointers, giving him the Warriors’ second-most threes behind Curry’s 12.

The only Warriors to make multiple threes were Curry (12), Post (three) and Buddy Hield (two). Curry’s teammates went 10 of 36 from 3-point range (27.7 percent). Meanwhile, four Grizzlies made multiple threes, including four players who made at least four. The Grizzlies as a team made 18 threes and shot 40.9 percent behind the 3-point line.

Luckily for the Warriors, the free-throw line was their best friend. The Warriors were a perfect 28 of 28 at the charity stripe. Butler went 12 of 12, Curry was 8 of 8, Green was 4 of 4, and Hield and Gui Santos each went 2 of 2 on free throws. That’s their most made free throws in a game without a miss in 34 years, last doing so in April of 1991.

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