Grizzlies roar to life with 97-90 win against Warriors in Game 2

OAKLAND - With Stephen Curry slated to receive the NBA most valuable player award before Tuesday’s game at Oracle Arena, Warriors coach Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked whether he was worried the hoopla might sap his team of its competitive edge.

“I’ve been through these before,” Kerr said. “As a teammate of Michael (Jordan with the Bulls) and Tim (Duncan with the Spurs), I’ve seen games where a team was distracted. I’ve seen other games where it wasn’t a problem.”

Sunday, it seemed like a problem. A big problem. After rolling through their first five games in the 2015 postseason, the Warriors received a dose of mortality in Game 2 of this Western Conference semifinal, looking sloppy and out of rhythm, and eventually falling to the Memphis Grizzlies, 97-90.

It was the Warriors’ first home loss since Jan. 27.

“It’s obviously been a dream season,” Kerr said afterward. “Things have fallen into place over and over again. It’s not always gonna work that way. It’s the playoffs, so this is kind of how it works. You get outplayed by a really good team, then you’re gonna lose whether you’re at home or on the road.

Improbably, No. 4 seed Memphis now has home-field advantage in the series. Play resumes there Saturday in Game 3.

Throughout the second half, the Oracle crowd tried to will a comeback. In Game 3 of the opening-round series against New Orleans, the Warriors had made up a 20-point deficit on the road and pulled out an overtime victory, demoralizing the young Pelicans. Golden State briefly gave the home crowd reason to believe it might happen again, cutting its deficit to seven points on several occasions in the fourth quarter Tuesday.

But the Warriors couldn’t catch fire, and the Grizzlies are not the Pelicans. This is a veteran team with significant playoff experience, and Memphis held tough. With about 2 minutes left, Memphis’ Mike Conley more or less punctured Golden State’s hopes with a 3-pointer to make it 90-80.

How appropriate. Conley was the difference in this game, emotionally and practically.

The point guard sat out Game 1 on Sunday after having the bones around his left eye shattered by the elbow of Portland’s C.J. McCollum in Memphis’ first-round series. The Grizzlies were hamstrung without him, on both ends of the floor, so Conley gave it a go Tuesday, wearing a clear-plastic mask for protection.

Understanding the magnitude of the game, Memphis coach Dave Joerger started Conley and played him extensively.

“Mike and I talk a lot during the games about how he is feeling,” Joerger said before tipoff. “If I think he is hurting us or doesn’t look good, I will take him out.”

Hurting the Grizzlies? Conley carried them for stretches of the game, and they played with greater confidence and purpose with their floor leader. Conley finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and his defense helped limit Golden State’s outside shooters.

The Warriors’ downfall was sloppiness. They turned over the ball 20 times, too frequently passing the ball into the teeth of the defense.

“I thought we lost our poise tonight,” Kerr said. “That was the biggest issues. We were in such a rush. It’s a 48-minute game. It takes an eternity to win an NBA game, and I felt like we were in the middle of the second quarter, it felt like desperation out there. We were too emotional, too quick with our intention to score.”

Unable to get into any sort of prolonged rhythm, Golden State shot 41.9 from the field and 23.1 from the 3-point line, falling far short of the Splash Bros. theme that carried the team to the NBA’s best record, and Curry to the MVP trophy.

Curry hit 7 of 19 shots, backcourt mate Klay Thompson connected on just 6 of 15 and Draymond Green hit 3 of 11.

With the Warriors desperately trying to ignite a spark, the teams traded baskets in third quarter. But Memphis scored a moral victory with its adept use of the shot clock. Power forward Zach Randolph beat the clock with a baseline jumper that made the score 57-45, and center Marc Gasol was bailed out just before a buzzer when he was fouled by Andre Iguodala.

The best-shooting team in the league just couldn’t find the basket in the first half as the Warriors shot 36.8 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from the 3-point line, hampered by their 10 turnovers. On one possession, Thompson missed a one-legged 3-point shot, then got another chance inside - and missed a dunk.

About the only real bright spot for Golden State was veteran Leandro Barbosa, who came off the bench to score eight points in the first half, including a 3-pointer that cut the score to 30-28 a few minutes into the second quarter. But the Grizzlies pulled away again later in the period, and Beno Udrih’s bucket just before halftime gave Memphis a 50-39 lead.

Memphis’ worst fear was that Conley would get hit and do further damage to his facial structure. It happened at 4:58 of the second quarter, when Conley fell to the ground with a loose ball; as he signaled time out, Green reached down for the ball and grazed Conley’s face. The point guard writhed in pain, and the two teams shot angry glances at one another during the timeout.

Conley shook it off and stayed in the game, though, and Green and Randolph hugged to signal an armistice.