The Memphis Grizzlies should probably get new alarm clocks because they really slept on their opponents this week.
The Grizzlies, who entered the day as the top seed in the West, played the Golden State Warriors on Christmas. In spite of the Warriors being heavy underdogs due to the continued absence of Steph Curry (who is out with a shoulder injury), they ended up throttling the Grizzlies, leading by as many as 20 points in an eventual 123-109 statement victory.
A report from Colin Ward-Henninger of CBS Sports revealed just how lightly Memphis appeared to have taken Golden State prior to their game.
“In the visiting locker room before games, most teams play a steady loop of the opponent’s highlights, including scouting notes, on whatever monitor they can get their hands on,” Ward-Henninger wrote. “Prior to the Grizzlies’ marquee Christmas Day matchup against the Warriors, however, the Golden State scouting video was relegated to a laptop with its screen tilted heavily toward the floor. Instead, the Memphis players had their eyes glued to a TV showing a live feed of … the Boston Celtics.”
Of course, the Grizzlies likely did plenty of prep on the Warriors throughout the week. But being more focused on the Celtics-Milwaukee Bucks contest that was airing live at the time is still not the best look, especially since Memphis was talking a lot of trash at Golden State beforehand.
The defending champion Warriors ended up making the Grizzlies look silly instead and even got to talk some junk of their own after the fact. Memphis might not make the same mistake again with their now-hated rivals when they meet again in San Francisco on Jan. 25.
