Programming note: Watch "Warriors Playoff Central" tonight at 4 p.m. and immediately following Game 3 on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and streaming live right here.
MEMPHIS, TN -- The long break between Games 2 and 3 in this Western Conference semifinal series was neatly summed up by Memphis coach Dave Joerger, who called it in his lyrical way, “A pain in the butt.”
Reason: Media overanalysis, which of course he could compensate for by turning off his television. After all, the beast must be fed, and that's just the way it is.
But it did help Mike Conley, the point guard who is trying to stop being known as “the league’s most underrated point guard.” The swelling in what he charmingly calls “my broken face” has reduced so that he could try a new mask, which he says fits tighter and more snugly against his face.
“I like it,” he said. “I’m tired of looking like the split-faced man.”
His attempts to get a cameo in the next Avengers movie aside, Conley used the three-day break to work his conditioning, which he thinks may allow him to play longer and more effectively than the 27 minutes he expended in Game 2.
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A leak in the roof at FedEx Forum, caused by a strident morning gullywasher over downtown Memphis, caused the Grizzlies to move their practice upstairs to an alternate court. The Warriors, though, ran their shootaround on the regular floor, presumably because they have seen so little moisture fall from the sky this winter that it would serve as a treat for the players and staff.
And of course, because they are the Warriors, impervious to injury of ill fortune, nobody slipped and fell.
