Golden State Warriors: Keys to a 2nd Round Victory

Key #1: Contain The Smash Brothers

Feb 27, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Memphis Grizzlies center

(33) and Memphis Grizzlies forward

(50) during the game at FedExForum. Los Angeles Clippers beat Memphis Grizzlies 97-79. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

If anything was learned from the Grizzles-Blazers series, it was that the Grizzles dynamic duo of Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph, have a pretty good handle on that thing called rebounding and creating 2nd chance points. In the series against the Blazers, Memphis accumulated 48 offensive rebounds, and 187 defensive rebounds, with Gasol and Randolph grabbing about 38% of those rebounds.

While it seemed like there were more offensive rebounds than 48, most of the time these two would swat it back out to the backcourt and reset their offense. On average over the course of the five game set, the Grizzles had about 13 second chance points, which isn’t horrible, but something that definitely could be better.

Golden State Warriors

If the Warriors front court, particularly Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes can reduce the amount of deflections to the backcourt and offensive rebounds Memphis typically gets, then the Warriors will have an “easier” time handling the Grizzles.

Not only can Gasol and Randolph rebound and create second chance opportunities, they are physical and aggressive in the lane. Both are highly capable of backing down their opponent and grinding their way into the paint for the easy bucket. Not only does this style of play give Memphis easy scoring chances, it also results in foul calls that lead to easy points at the charity stripe.

Therefore, if Bogut can maintain his composure enough to play aggressively but not get into foul trouble, then the amount of easy points Memphis gets will be reduced. Which leads to the next key:

Next: Points in the Paint