Last night, the Golden State Warriors were absolutely awful against the Memphis Grizzlies. This is a game that the Warriors should have won, especially since Ja Morant was not in the Memphis lineup. Unfortunately for the Warriors, this did not make a difference for them as they played some of their worst defensive basketball of the entire season. The Warriors could not get a stop and the Grizzlies were able to walk all over them from start to finish.
Today, Stephen A. Smith spoke about the game on First Take, and he had some hot takes about what went down. As you can see down below, Smith felt as though "this was one of the greatest ass whippings [he's] ever seen.” He also went in on the Warriors for playing this badly, noting that there are zero excuses for what went down. With Morant out, Smith states that this series should have been over as of last night.
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“The star that’s gone from the team is not yours. It’s not like Steph Curry wasn’t playing. It’s not like Klay Thompson wasn’t playing. It’s not like Jordan Poole wasn’t playing. It’s not like Draymond Green wasn’t playing. Ja Morant wasn’t playing," Smith said. “We’ve seen the Memphis Grizzlies enjoy success without the services of Ja Morant this year. And we’ve marveled at it. But nevertheless, nobody in their right mind would believe that you were going to see what you saw last night. I thought Memphis could win this game… It doesn’t matter what happens in Game 6 if the Golden State Warriors win. It don’t erase what we saw last night. That was an atrocity. That was one of the worst performances I have ever seen.”
The Warriors and the Grizzlies will now get to play Game 6 back in San Francisco. If the Grizzlies win again, then it will be back to Memphis for Game 7, which might prove to be extremely difficult for the Warriors.
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