NBA Basketball Live Scores America 2015 + Table

Golden State Warriors Face First Wake-Up Call of Season, NBA Playoffs

May 6, 2015

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USA Today

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The Golden State Warriors led a charmed life all season, filled with splashy threes, jaw-dropping highlights and a boatload of wins.

But there's nothing sweet about spending a second-round series in the mud, where the battle-tested—and in Mike Conley's case, battle-scarred—Memphis Grizzlies simultaneously do their best work and bring out their opponents' worst.

Controlled aggression will be Golden State's key to turn these slugfests back in its favor. During Tuesday's 97-90 loss, the Dubs were too eager for their own good and lacked the control that powered them to 42 victories over their previous 44 games inside the raucous Oracle Arena.

"I thought we lost our poise tonight," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said afterward, via ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss. "... We were too quick with our intention to score. Instead of just moving the ball and setting good screens, everyone was trying to do everything frantically on their own."

The Warriors tried forcing the issue. They made any and every attempt to avoid as many half-court encounters with the Grizzlies as possible