The Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors are starting their second round NBA playoffs series in the western conference and it has Game 1 and Game 2 from ORACLE Arena in Oakland with coverage from ABC, ESPN and TNT and the first matchup starts at 3:30 pm ET and will be streaming online from the WatchESPN website as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph matchup.
The Warriors won their first round series over the Pelicans in four games with a sweep and they are the number one overall seed in the west. Golden State is one of the best offensive teams in the league, while Memphis comes in with size and rebounding as one of the best defensive teams. Gasol is going to be the key for Memphis with Mike Conley unhealthy and the Warriors have Curry coming in after a strong start to the playoffs.
The two teams last played back in April and that saw the Warriors win 111-107 and now the teams will play two in Oakland. The Warriors come in after being the best team in the NBA all season. The Warriors won 67 games during the season and the team swept in the first round of the playoffs to give them some rest coming into the second round.
In the playoffs under the current format, three other teams have won that many games during the regular season and then swept the first round of the postseason. All of those teams went on to win the championship with the Bulls doing it twice and the Celtics doing it once and now the Warriors have the chance to make that run. The Warriors are likely the main favorites now that Spurs are done in the west, but the Clippers, Rockets and Grizzlies all had strong seasons this year.
The Warriors have had a week off after beating the Pelicans and the Grizzlies finished off the Blazers to advance into the second round. Losing Conley for any period of time is a huge loss for the Grizzlies and he may not be able to return for the series depending on how his injuries are doing. Conley has not yet been cleared for Game 1, but sources have said that he should play during the second round.
The final night of the season saw the seeding get set in the west and teams like the Rockets, Grizzlies, Spurs and Blazers all were in a bunch in the middle. The Clippers and Spurs were separated by just one game, but they had to match up in the first round and that saw Los Angeles advance after seven games.
Check here for the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors live coverage.
