After an easy first-round matchup against the undermanned Denver Nuggets, the Golden State Warriors are ready to face the young and inspired Memphis Grizzlies, who had a harder job taking care of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Warriors are arguably the best players in the West right now after the things they displayed in the first round of the playoffs. Stephen Curry didn’t play much, and Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson carried the team most of the time against the Nuggets.
These situations make Warriors fan dream about this team’s chances of going all the way, but they need to face some big obstacles before being able to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy once again. This Sunday, their second-round series against the Grizzlies stars, with many expectations surrounding both teams.
Steve Kerr was asked if there was some sort of rivalry between his team and the young Grizzlies, but he was quick to shut that down, claiming that Memphis is a good team that’s done things the right way and the Warriors will have fun facing them.
“We don’t really feel like we have a rival… We just look at Memphis as a rising young team that’s really talented, and it’s going to be a great challenge to try to beat them.”
Steve Kerr: “We don't really feel like we have a rival…We just look at Memphis as a rising young team that's really talented, and it's going to be a great challenge to try to beat them.”
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) April 30, 2022
This could be seen as Kerr being too confident in his team, but he’s right. The Grizzlies just became a contender in the West this season, and even though they faced the Warriors in the play-in tournament last year, that’s not enough to consider this a rivalry.
Still, with Ja Morant and Jordan Poole playing like big stars, perhaps they could engage in a good rivalry in the future. However, right now, that’s non-existent. The team that wins this series will face either the Phoenix Suns or Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals. The FedEx Forum hosts this afternoon, hoping to see the Grizzlies start the series the same way they finished against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
