MEMPHIS — During a first-quarter timeout Wednesday night, Warriors forward Kevin Durant was sauntering to the team huddle when he heard a loud boo come from a Grizzlies fan behind Golden State’s bench.
Durant, stone-faced, glared at his critic for several seconds before pointing both of his thumbs toward the floor. After Durant took his seat on the bench, Warriors center Jordan Bell turned toward the fan, smiled and shouted, "This is your last game!"
Golden State went on to lose, 132-117, to Memphis at FedEx Forum on Wednesday night, but those five words from Bell encapsulated the Warriors’ thoughts on the matter. The Grizzlies can enter the offseason feeling good that they routed a severely depleted Golden State team. Meanwhile, the Warriors have another championship to chase.
Several days removed from securing the Western Conference’s top seed, Golden State wasn’t too concerned with winning Wednesday.
It sat Stephen Curry (right ankle sprain), DeMarcus Cousins (load management), Draymond Green (left knee soreness) and Shaun Livingston (left knee soreness) in hopes of entering the playoffs healthy. A night after missing Tuesday’s win over the Pelicans, Kevin Durant (21 points on 7-for-10 shooting, six assists) and Klay Thompson (19 points on 12 shots) were limited to 19 and 17 minutes, respectively.
That’s why the Warriors’ litany of defensive shortcomings Wednesday probably won’t make Golden State head coach Steve Kerr lose any sleep. The Grizzlies rang up 86 first-half points — the most by a Warriors opponent since the Suns hung 87 on them on March 23, 1989 — and made 20 3-pointers, but they were trying to ease the sting of a disappointing season.
Golden State was merely slogging through the last game on the regular-season schedule before it can start preparing for the matchups that matter....
