The Memphis Grizzlies finished off the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers 4-1 on Wednesday, which means Marc Gasol and company will face the red hot Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the conference semifinals on Sunday.
The Warriors beat the Grizzlies 2-1 in the regular season. More importantly, Mike Conley suffered multiple facial fractures in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs. The point guard, who was on hand during TNT’s broadcast of Game 5, said during a live interview that his status moving forward was “up in the air”, although he hoped to be back “sooner rather than later”.
Obviously, that’s not the best of news for the Grizzlies, who are going up against the best team in the league. Memphis, however, has shown the ability to win games without Conley this season – they are 9-5 when he sits (including the playoffs) – and are still a threat to beat any team in the league on any given night with their grind-out style.
Regardless, the Warriors have been well-rested and will look to move past the second round for the first time since Curry joined the team. Marreese Speights, who will likely see a reasonable amount of playing time against his former team, saw who his team would face next and had this to say:
Lock in loaded
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) April 30, 2015
Someone is ready to go.
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.