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The Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies have a rivalry that has produced some thrilling basketball games, but how did it all start? It began with Andre Iguodala, who was traded by Golden State to Memphis in July 2019. However, he never reported to training camp or expressed interest in playing for Memphis. A month later, Memphis agreed on a deal with the Miami Heat that sent Iguodala to South Beach. Before he left, Grizzlies players expressed their displeasure with Iguodala’s brief tenure as their teammate, and Dillon Brooks even said that he couldn’t wait until they found a way to trade him so they could play him and show him what Memphis was about.
As fate would have it, the Grizzlies and Warriors faced off for the 8-seed in the regular-season finale. Golden State won 113-101, but thanks to the NBA’s play-in tournament, these teams met again five days later. In the rematch, Memphis had a 10-point advantage with 3:36 remaining, but Golden State sent the game to overtime. The Grizzlies earned the No. 8 seed with a 117-112 win and ended a three-year playoff drought.
The beef truly rose to prominence when the two teams met in the conference semifinals. Game 1 lived up to the hype, but Green participated in only half of it thanks to a second-quarter ejection. The Warriors won 117-116. In Game 2, Brooks was ejected in the game’s opening minutes after striking Gary Payton II, who broke his left elbow in the incident. The Warriors won Game 5 up 3-1 and eager to end the Grizzlies’ playoff run. Ahead of the potential series closer, Curry gave ESPN’s Kendra Andrews some insight on Golden State’s mentality, saying, “Whoop that trick! That is our game plan.”
Memphis jumped out to a 19-11 record, tied for best in the conference. Morant memorably declared that he was “fine in the West” and named the Boston Celtics as the Grizzlies’ only competition. It proved to be fruitful bulletin board material for Golden State, which won the Christmas Day game 123-109. Although this matchup wasn’t a nailbiter, the history between the teams was apparent as seven technical fouls were assessed. The Grizzlies got the last word after their dominant 131-110 victory on March 9, their first win against the Warriors this season. Despite the history, Green still says he wouldn’t call Memphis a rival. “Rivalries are created by you win, I win. Clearly, we’ve won four times, and their organization has zero championships, so I can’t consider that a rivalry,” Green said after the game.
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