Ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 5, Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry told ESPN’s Kendra Andrews that the team’s gameplan against the Memphis Grizzlies was to “Whoop That Trick.”
“Whoop That Trick” is the Grizzlies’ rally cry, so Curry was not-so-subtlely talking trash with that comment.
Well, Curry and the Warriors didn’t exactly succeed in that gameplan. Rather, it was the complete opposite.
Memphis crushed Golden State 134-95 to stay alive in the second-round series; the Warriors’ series lead is now 3-2.
Game 5 was an even bigger blowout than the score suggests. The Grizzlies led by as many as 55 points. They took a 27-point lead into halftime, and then put together a 42-17 fourth quarter. Golden State outscored Memphis 28-15 in a full-on garbage-time fourth quarter to make the game appear a little closer than it really was.
And Memphis did all of this without star guard Ja Morant, who was out with a bone bruise in his right knee. Then again, the Grizzlies went 20-5 without Morant in the regular season, so they’ve clearly shown that they can find a way to win without him.
Here’s a look at how the basketball world is reacting to the Grizzlies’ blowout win:
The Warriors certainly want to do everything possible to close the series in Game 6 at home on Friday night. If not, the series will return to Memphis for a Game 7, which would be next Monday night.