When the backboard lit up red, Kevin Durant did not even hear the buzzer.
The roar of the crowd was simply too overwhelming, swallowing the buzzer like a tidal wave.
Beside Durant, Stephen Curry blankly raised his head. At that moment, he felt as though he had returned to 2015.
Back then, he and the Warriors had likewise stormed into the Western Conference Finals seemingly unstoppable. They had expected a hard-fought battle against the Grizzlies, only to be utterly dominated by them instead.
He had thought things would change after winning the championship last season. Yet now, it seemed they had returned to square one.
131–99. The Grizzlies crushed the Warriors by 32 points at home!
Link put up 45 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. While 45 points was only Link's second-highest scoring total of the season, dropping 45 on the Warriors carried an entirely different weight.
Of course, anyone who thought the Grizzlies had won purely because of a star player's explosion would be completely wrong.
Because aside from Link, the rest of the Grizzlies had played exceptionally well too.
"Pork Belly" Jokic casually posted a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Gasol Jr. scored 18 points, proving that if he had not been sidelined for the season last year, the Warriors might not have made it past the Western Conference Finals at all.
Spencer Dinwiddie also showed the Warriors what he could do today. After going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, the Warriors surely would not dare leave him open for threes again.
Kerr deeply regretted not doing everything in his power to persuade Nash this summer. He did not believe Dinwiddie's improvement from three had nothing to do with Nash.
"The Grizzlies were nearly perfect. From the second quarter onward, they controlled the