Almost all Warriors fans believed that after an unbelievable first half, the Grizzlies would be powerless to resist in the second.
Yet no one expected Link to tear straight through the Warriors' defense as soon as the second half began.
The form shown by Link and the Grizzlies was nothing like that of a team ready to surrender.
Clearly, the Grizzlies had not admitted defeat. They still wanted to tie the score.
Although the Warriors still held a 19-point lead, Steve Kerr on the sideline was vaguely uneasy.
During the previous quarter, the Warriors had committed plenty of turnovers. They had mindlessly kept feeding Thompson the ball, making their passing lanes easy to predict.
In truth, those turnovers had all been avoidable. As long as Kerr called a timeout, stressed a few points, and made the passing more varied, the Grizzlies would not have found it so easy to come up with steals.
But Kerr did not do that, and neither did the Warriors players. They confidently believed that compared to Thompson's unreal shooting percentage, a few turnovers were hardly worth mentioning.
But now, Kerr was beginning to regret his decision.
He feared that the Warriors' disdain in the second quarter would ultimately lead to a disastrous mistake—and punishment...
Just as Kerr's thoughts ran wild, the Warriors' first possession of the second half ended in failure.
Klay Thompson continued firing from beyond the arc, but this time, Butler gave him no room whatsoever.
Thompson had thought Jimmy Butler's confidence had been completely shattered. Against an opponent whose spirit had been broken, he should have been able to do whatever he wanted.
Butler, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He still worked hard on defense, without the slightest trace of fear.
It was as though Thompson's previous 37 points had