Loads of heads turned over the officiating in Tuesday’s nail-biter between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies — a 121-116 win for the Dubs. The Warriors constructed a commanding 20-point lead early, however the Grizzlies clawed their method again within the second half to make it a down-to-the-wire end.
Whereas the Warriors benefitted from a number of favorable calls all through the night time, crunch time noticed a handful of whistles swing towards the Grizzlies. One key second got here when officers dominated in opposition to Golden State’s problem on a Draymond Inexperienced foul dedicated on Zach Edey.
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Regardless of calls going each methods, essentially the most pivotal second got here with 5.4 seconds remaining. With the Warriors holding a slim 119-116 lead, Memphis was whistled for a five-second inbound violation, which helped seal the Golden State win.
Warriors followers on X (previously Twitter) reacted to the officiating after the ultimate buzzer.
“Refs tried to take it away from us,” one stated.
“Refs have been horrible, particularly towards the tip of the sport,” one other stated.
“Ref masterclass,” one other stated.
Golden State held the sting on the line. Jimmy Butler drew 18 free throw makes an attempt, sinking 12. The Warriors general went 28-for-34 from the stripe, in comparison with the Grizzlies’ 20-for-23. Steph Curry was an ideal 13-for-13, together with 4 straight to ice the sport within the remaining moments.
“God terrible efficiency by the refs tonight,” one stated.
“Most likely the worst stretch of officiating I’ve seen shortly,” one other stated.
“Even the Draymond sixth foul was goofy,” one other commented.
Warriors set to face No. 2 Rockets in Spherical 1
With the win, the Warriors formally secured the No. 7 seed and can sq. off in opposition to the No. 2 Houston Rockets within the opening spherical of the playoffs.
The 2 groups met 5 instances through the common season. The Rockets took the primary two matchups, every by six factors.
The Warriors edged out the third in-season event conflict by one level. They adopted it up with a 105-98 win within the fourth, earlier than the Rockets claimed the ultimate assembly 106-96 — a recreation through which Steph Curry struggled, going simply 1-for-10 from the sphere.
Recreation 1 of the sequence suggestions off Sunday in Houston at 9:30 p.m. ET, adopted by Recreation 2 on Wednesday. Each will probably be televised on TNT.
