The Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies after Stephen Curry secured his second career scoring title in the first quarter. The Dubs will now officially hold the 8 seed in the Western Conference and could potentially end up playing the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James in what would be an epic play-in game.
Curry and the Warriors were simply too much for the Grizzlies as they will now face the San Antonio Spurs in the play-in tournament, with the Western Conference games slated for Wednesday. However, the Grizzlies fought tooth and nail to the very end but ultimately couldn't keep up with Steph.
Curry notched his sixth game this season of 30 points or more, a marvelous feat for anybody. The Warriors star guard and new NBA scoring champ was sensational all game long and used a huge, 17-point third quarter to help separate from Memphis. He would go on to finish with
For head coach Steve Kerr, his squad is a bit banged up. Kelly Oubre Jr. is nursing an injury, and rookie James Wiseman is still out, so a matchup against the Lakers definitely isn't what they want in the play-in tournament.
The Warriors led by 17 to start the 4th quarter, but Ja Morant and the Grizzlies came storming back and took a two-point lead late in the 4th off a layup by Jonas Valuncianas. Then, Andrew Wiggins had a massive putback slam to give the Dubs a lead and shift momentum in their direction.
Steph followed that up with a huge three and the Warriors ended up finishing the game and taking the victory. Their reward? It's quite possible the NBA and the fans are granted a Steph-LeBron showdown with the winner taking the 7-seed in the West and the loser facing the winner of the Spurs-Grizzlies game.
For now, the Warriors will enjoy the victory and Steph will enjoy being the scoring champ, although it's safe to say they have bigger goals on their minds.