MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Golden State Warriors started the season 5-0. Then they were 21-2. Then they were 51-12. And they finished 67-15 before sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening around of the Western Conference Playoffs, point being that Steve Kerr's team has played with a lead, in one form or another, for roughly six months.
So this is new territory for Golden State.
Suddenly, against all odds and most common sense, the top-seeded Warriors are down 2-1 to the fifth-seeded Grizzlies in this best-of-seven series following Saturday night's 99-89 loss here inside FedExForum. Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 43 points and 23 rebounds to lead Memphis, which is now just two victories away from making the Western Conference Finals for the second time in the past three seasons.
Here's what we learned Saturday night:
1. This is going to be a way more interesting series than most anticipated
The Warriors won Game 1 by 15 points and, at that point, were 33-to-1 favorites (according to Las Vegas) to advance to the Western Conference Finals -- presumably because they were A) the higher seed, B) in possession of homecourt advantage, and C) completely healthy while Grizz point guard Michael Conley was recovering from face surgery and no guarantee to play effectively or even at all. But now look. Not only is Conley playing, he's playing well. And the Grizzlies have homecourt advantage. And the Grizzlies are up 2-1. And that means this series is at least going six games, which is two more than some predicted before things got underway last Sunday.
2. Tony Allen is a problem
Allen has been a legend around these parts for years because of the way he guards and generally talks and acts, but that legendary status has mostly been confined to the Memphis area. Not anymore, though. The rest of the nation got a taste (via TNT) in Game 2, and Allen continued to impress in Game 3 by fighting through screens, jumping in passing lanes and consistently creating issues for the Warriors' normally high-powered offense. The byproduct is that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson -- AKA the Splash Brothers -- are completely out of sync. Curry is 4-of-21 from beyond the arc the past two games; Thompson is 4-of-12. Combined, they're shooting 24.2 percent from 3-point range in the past two games, and the Grizzlies' defense, led by Allen, is a big reason why.
3. Golden State might be the banged-up team now
Warriors center Marreese Speights left in the fourth with a strained right calf and did not return, and it'll be interesting to see if this injury lingers into Monday. On the surface, it's not that big of a deal; Speights is a role player who averaged only 15.9 minutes per game during the regular season. But the Warriors are small and getting dominated physically by Memphis. So losing any body, especially a body as big as Speights' body, could create even more problems for a Golden State team that's already dealing with enough.
