The Golden State Warriors’ embarrassing defeat in Game 5 had an element of physicality to it.
The Memphis Grizzlies finally realized they were the much bigger team. They already had the recipe for defending the Warriors’ intricate offense: constant overplaying/top-locking off the ball, packing the paint by leaving non-threats alone on the perimeter, dominating the possession battle through crashing the boards, and lording over the paint against their relatively diminutive opponents.
The Grizzlies outrebounded the Warriors by 18, which included an emphatic 18-4 advantage on the offensive boards. For the first time in the series, they won the points-in-the-paint battle, 50-36.