Dub Nation Rooting Guide #4: Utah Jazz (1) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (8). & Open Thread

Your definitive guide

Utah Jazz

Ex-Warriors

• None that I noticed.

Friends

• Donovan Mitchell and Eric Paschall have been close friends since childhood.

Warriors Villains

• I don’t think there are any?

Petty Rivalries

• Rudy Gobert will likely beat out Draymond Green as Defensive Player of the Year this year. And he did almost infect all those reporters with COVID with the mic touching. And The French Rejection did face off against the Warriors in the 2017 Playoffs, but even though the series was closer than the score, the Jazz never truly threatened. Also Steph did this to him:

  So I don’t know if Dub Nation really has any particular bad feelings about The Stifle Tower.

• Mike Conley was a key player in the Grit and Grind Memphis Grizzlies that faced GSW in the 2015 title run. But Mike seems like an upright, hard working, talented player. It’s not his fault that trolls use his face injury to de-legitimize Steph Curry and the entire 2015 championship.

Team Grudges

• The Utah Jazz did end up thwarting the We Believe Warriors with some too extra drama involving Derek Fisher and other hype. But after all the years, it did give us the series’s most memorable moment:

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Memphis Grizzlies

Ex-Warriors

• None

Friends

• Ja Morant did praise Steph as the MVP, but then he rudely threw in 5 threes to mess up the Warriors playoff run.

Warriors Villains

• Grayson Allen may be the closest there is. He rose to fame in college as a talent who couldn’t stop cheap shooting opponents. Then for two seasons he was a merely annoying foil until he hit big shots in the Play-In overtime.

Petty Rivalries

• Dillon Brooks rubbed some fans the wrong way with his aggressive wrestling of Steph Curry through the showdown games.

Team Grudges

• The Grit and Grind Grizzlies nearly knocked the 2015 Warriors out of the playoffs, before Draymond took Steph out for BBQ and Kerr debuted the Tony Allen Defense on Tony Allen. And in general, that team gave GSW a tough time with their smashmouth basketball. But in the end, MEM never really damaged GSW’s chances, and they also set the stage for plays like this:

  If you can ever say a playoff series was decided by a 3rd quarter heave, that was it.

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… so, who are you rooting for?

I don’t mind if either team wins it all. I want at least MEM to give UTA a rough time, so it doesn’t feel so bad to lose to them in the Play-In.

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