"The Warriors can't play any worse than what they did last night" - Shannon Sharpe places his trust in Golden State Warriors despite abysmal outing in Game 5
While the rest of the NBA community is slowly losing faith in the Golden State Warriors, Shannon Sharpe still has his money on them. The Dubs were favorites to win Game 5 at Memphis but got embarrassingly blown out instead.
They lost by a whopping 39 points, the fifth-largest margin of loss in the franchise's playoff history. To make matters worse, the Memphis Grizzlies were missing their best player, Ja Morant, and the Warriors trailed by 55 at one point in the game.
Shannon Sharpe spoke in favor of the Golden State Warriors and suggested that they would win Game 6 at home. He said on "Undisputed":
"It is only one loss for the Golden State Warriors. I'm not surprised that (the Memphis Grizzlies) won the game, I'm surprised at the margin. Because when they came out hitting threes, I was like 'They not finna keep this up. They not finna keep making threes like this.'"
Shannon Sharpe is not sold on the Memphis Grizzlies coming back from a 3-2 deficit because they likely cannot continue their excellent shooting. Moreover, it also doesn't look like the Warriors can play any worse than they did in Game 5. He said:
"The Golden State Warriors are still in a commanding position because they're up 3-2 and they're going back home. They can't play any worse than what they did last night.
"Now, can Memphis replicate what they did last night? I don't believe they can replicate it. Now I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I do believe the Golden State Warriors will close this series out next game 4-2 and they wait for the winner of the Mavs-Suns series."
"The Warriors can't play any worse than what they did last night. I don't believe the Grizzlies can replicate what they did. It's not going to be easy, but the Warriors will close this series out next game."
— @ShannonSharpe https://t.co/F1TPHnnvPY
Shannon Sharpe believes the Warriors will win Game 6 because they are playing at home. The series will shift drastically in their favor in San Francisco as they play much better at home. The Dubs went 31-10 at home in the regular season and are 5-0 in the playoffs so far.
Can the Golden State Warriors close the series out in Game 6?
The Golden State Warriors have a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals, but the reality is that they played four games horribly in this series. They won by a single point in Game 1 by the skin of their teeth after shooting 48.4% from the field. They lost Game 2 by shooting worse than they did in Game 1.
In Game 4 at home, they played worse than they did all year, trailing for the first 47 minutes of the game and shooting just 40.0% from the field.
They won that game behind Steph Curry's late-game heroics, who outscored the Grizzlies by himself in clutch time.
The only game they played well was Game 3 when they won by a whopping 30 points (142-112) after shooting an incredible 62.4% from the field and 53.1% from three-point range.
The Warriors shot 63/52/91% in Game 3.
They are the 2nd team in NBA history to shoot 60/50/90 in a playoff game, joining the 2001 Sixers.
Their 76.1 TS% tonight is the 2nd highest in NBA history. https://t.co/nWOSFBSZHJ
So the reality is they are leading this series despite playing four horrific games. They have championship-tested Hall of Famers and winning DNA in their core group, so they have found the extra gear in clutch time.
They are nearly unstoppable in the Bay Area due to one of the best home court advantages in the league. There is increased optimism that they will win Game 6. Klay Thompson said in the Game 5 post game presser:
"I just know we’ll be much better Friday."
Mike Brown: “It’s one game. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t get down.”
Draymond Green and Steph Curry are also quite positive that they will advance to the Western Conference finals on Friday.