MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Klay Thompson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer for the Warriors with 36 seconds left and Golden State overcame Draymond Green’s first-half ejection to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-116 in Game 1 on Sunday. of their series of the semifinals of the Western Conference of the NBA.
Jordan Poole led the Warriors with 31 points off the bench, shooting 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Stephen Curry added 24 points, Andrew Wiggins 17 and Thompson finished with 15.
Green was ejected for a flagrant foul shortly before halftime.
Thompson missed two free throws with 6.7 seconds remaining, then Memphis won a jump ball and took a timeout with 3.6 seconds left to set up one last play. The Grizzlies did a similar thing to Ja Morant with a last-second layup to win Game 5 of the first round, but now Morant’s shot was off.
Morant finished with 34 points and 10 assists. Jaren Jackson Jr. matched his season high with six 3-pointers and set a career high with 33 points to become the first pair of teammates in Memphis to score at least 30 points in a playoff game. D’Anthony Melton added 14 points and Brandon Clarke 12.
The Grizzlies finished their first-round series by rallying from double-digit deficits in their last three wins, the first team in NBA history to do so more than once in a postseason, let alone a series. They came in leading the NBA in the fourth quarter by averaging 33 points and outscoring their opponents by 10.3 points per game.
This time, they could only keep up with the Warriors in the period.