NBA: Warriors pull away late, close out Grizzlies in Game 6
Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates his three-point shot against the Memphis Grizzlies in the fourth quarter in Game Six of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals at Chase Center on May 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
Andrew Wiggins gave Golden State the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 6:29 to go and the Warriors earned a sixth trip to the Western Conference finals in the past eight years with a 110-96 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday in Game 6 of their first-round series in San Francisco.
Klay Thompson had a game-high-tying 30 points, Stephen Curry added 29 and Kevon Looney led a dominant effort on the boards with a career-high 22 rebounds for the third-seeded Warriors, who successfully rebounded from a 39-point shellacking in Game 5 at Memphis.
The Warriors, who won three championships between 2015 and ’18 but missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons, will face either top-seeded Phoenix or fourth-seeded Dallas in the Western finals. The Suns host the Mavericks in a decisive Game 7 on Sunday.
After neither team led by more than nine points in a tightly contested first three quarters, the sides traded the lead three times and mixed in a pair of ties before Wiggins buried his go-ahead 3-pointer for a 90-89 advantage.
The 21-3 run that sent the @warriors to the West Finals!
Chase Center IGNITES late in Game 6 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Fei3jGr2Be
— NBA (@NBA) May 14, 2022
Wiggins then added a dunk, Curry a 3-pointer and Draymond Green a dunk off a Looney assist as Golden State scored the next seven points to go up 97-89 with 5:04 remaining.
The second-seeded Grizzlies, who effectively lost home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series with a home loss in Game 1, got no closer than seven after that.
Thompson’s 30 points came on 11-for-22 shooting, including 8-for-14 from 3-point range. Curry hit 10 of his 27 shots and six of his 17 3-point attempts. They combined for 14 of Golden State’s 20 3-pointers, as the Warriors outscored the Ja Morant-less Grizzlies 60-45 from beyond the arc.
Wiggins finished with 18 points and Jordan Poole had 12 for Golden State. Green dished out a game-high-tying eight assists to complement a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double.
Golden State overcame 19 turnovers by outrebounding Memphis 70-44, including 25-10 on the offensive boards. Half of Looney’s 22 rebounds, eight more than he’d ever previously recorded in a playoff game and four more than he ever had a regular-season game, came on the offensive end.
Wiggins was a third Warrior with double-digit rebounds, grabbing 10 to complete the team’s second double-double.
Memphis’ Dillon Brooks, who served a one-game suspension earlier for a flagrant foul that knocked Gary Payton II out of the series, matched Thompson for game-high scoring honors with 30 points. He made 7 of 15 long-range attempts.
Desmond Bane buried four 3-pointers on a 25-point night for the Grizzlies, while Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12 points and four blocks. Steven Adams had a team-high 10 rebounds and Tyus Jones logged seven points, eight assists and nine rebounds.
