‘Playoff guy’ GP2 ready to answer Warriors’ postseason call originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – As critical as it is for teams to get big games from their superstar players, in order to get deep into the NBA playoffs, it’s equally important to get steady and solid production from the backups.
That was the formula that played out nicely in the Warriors’ 121-116 play-in victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.
Jimmy Butler was in complete Playoff Jimmy mode and poured in a season-high 38 points while Stephen Curry shrugged off a slow start and finished with 37 points.
A deeper dive into the game, however, shows that while those two paved the way for Golden State, it was players like Gary Payton II and Quinten Post who held it down during critical moments.
Payton scored 12 points and made one of the game’s biggest plays when he snuck up from behind and blocked a shot attempt by Grizzlies’ 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey.
Post, the No. 22 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft who has been a revelation as a perimeter shooter, added 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes and combined with Payton and Jimmy Butler to limit Edey’s output. He grabbed 17 rebounds and scored 14 points albeit on 4-of-11 shooting.
For Post it was a satisfying night considering it was his first taste of a postseason atmosphere.
For Payton, it was basically another night at the office where the scrappy guard was all over the court diving for loose balls, going chest-to-chest with opposing players and doing whatever he could to make a difference.
“This is time,” Payton said. “You lead up all year to get to this moment. I’m more of a playoff guy … so when it’s that time of year, lock in and get right and try to be as efficient as I can.”
Payton has been very efficient almost from the moment he joined the Warriors.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr was very outspoken about Payton’s impact with the Warriors, specifically pointing out the impact that GPII had when the Warriors won the 2022 NBA Finals.
“We don’t win that championship in (2022) without Gary,” Kerr said. “He’s a big-time player, playoff performer, two-way player. Understands how to play with Steph probably as well as anybody on our team. He’s basically a power forward on offense and a point guard on defense. Very unique player.”
Butler, who was a one-man wrecking crew for most of the game against Memphis, took it a step further and said Payton will definitely be a key factor in the upcoming playoffs.
“He’s going to be a reason that we win a couple games in the playoffs,” Butler said. “But what I love most about GP is he makes sure everybody’s calm. He lets everybody know, ‘We’re going to be just fine. We just have to get a stop, get a bucket. We got to execute.’
“He’ll take and make some big shots (and) for sure he’ll get a big-time dunk to get the crowd into the game and then guard whoever you ask him to guard.”
Payton realizes, too, that the Warriors bench will have to keep producing if the Blue and Gold are going to reach their final destination.
“We know what’s at stake,” he said. “In a regular normal series, you got two games (that) your superstars are going to win for you. You got another game that the bench is going to win for you, and then the third is probably execution. We do our part and we know that Wardell, Jimmy and (Draymond Green) are going to do their part.
“So as much as we can take the load off them and they come in and do what they normally do, it just gives us extra bump, extra run that we have later in the game.”
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‘Playoff guy’ GP2 ready to answer Warriors’ postseason call
SAN FRANCISCO – As critical as it is for teams to get big games from their superstar players, in order to get deep into the NBA playoffs, it’s equally important to get steady and solid production from the backups.
That was the formula that played out nicely in the Warriors’ 121-116 play-in victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.
Jimmy Butler was in complete Playoff Jimmy mode and poured in a season-high 38 points while Stephen Curry shrugged off a slow start and finished with 37 points.
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A deeper dive into the game, however, shows that while those two paved the way for Golden State, it was players like Gary Payton II and Quinten Post who held it down during critical moments.
Payton scored 12 points and made one of the game’s biggest plays when he snuck up from behind and blocked a shot attempt by Grizzlies’ 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey.
Post, the No. 22 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft who has been a revelation as a perimeter shooter, added 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes and combined with Payton and Jimmy Butler to limit Edey’s output. He grabbed 17 rebounds and scored 14 points albeit on 4-of-11 shooting.
For Post it was a satisfying night considering it was his first taste of a postseason atmosphere.
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For Payton, it was basically another night at the office where the scrappy guard was all over the court diving for loose balls, going chest-to-chest with opposing players and doing whatever he could to make a difference.
“This is time,” Payton said. “You lead up all year to get to this moment. I’m more of a playoff guy … so when it’s that time of year, lock in and get right and try to be as efficient as I can.”
Payton has been very efficient almost from the moment he joined the Warriors.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr was very outspoken about Payton’s impact with the Warriors, specifically pointing out the impact that GPII had when the Warriors won the 2022 NBA Finals.
“We don’t win that championship in (2022) without Gary,” Kerr said. “He’s a big-time player, playoff performer, two-way player. Understands how to play with Steph probably as well as anybody on our team. He’s basically a power forward on offense and a point guard on defense. Very unique player.”
Butler, who was a one-man wrecking crew for most of the game against Memphis, took it a step further and said Payton will definitely be a key factor in the upcoming playoffs.
“He’s going to be a reason that we win a couple games in the playoffs,” Butler said. “But what I love most about GP is he makes sure everybody’s calm. He lets everybody know, ‘We’re going to be just fine. We just have to get a stop, get a bucket. We got to execute.’
“He’ll take and make some big shots (and) for sure he’ll get a big-time dunk to get the crowd into the game and then guard whoever you ask him to guard.”
Payton realizes, too, that the Warriors bench will have to keep producing if the Blue and Gold are going to reach their final destination.
“We know what’s at stake,” he said. “In a regular normal series, you got two games (that) your superstars are going to win for you. You got another game that the bench is going to win for you, and then the third is probably execution. We do our part and we know that Wardell, Jimmy and (Draymond Green) are going to do their part.
“So as much as we can take the load off them and they come in and do what they normally do, it just gives us extra bump, extra run that we have later in the game.”
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