Top Five Predictions for Warriors-Grizzlies

On the surface, the Warriors are in for a bloodbath against the Memphis Grizzlies starting Sunday at Oracle. Memphis is known for its rugged, "grit-and-grind" style. With Marc Gasol at center and Zach Randolph at power forward, the Grizzlies can punish most any team down low.

Well, the Warriors do have some bruisers down low, much to Charles Barkley's chagrin. Draymond Green may be "undersized" at only 6'7'', but he has a nasty streak about him and a nearly unmatched tenacity on the defensive end; Andrew Bogut is known for his subtle tricks in the paint on defense; and, off the bench, Festus Ezeli is another big body the Warriors can throw at Randolph and Gasol.

Further, Memphis's perimeter firepower is sorely lacking. Not only do they not have solid shot-creators at shooting guard, but now their most important perimeter (and maybe overall) player in point guard Mike Conley may miss significant time after breaking his face and getting surgery. (Yikes.) Whether the Grizzlies can think about an upset depends on Conley's health, which as of now is doubtful for Game 1. Not exactly the best news heading into a series against the MVP front-runner Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Let us see how the national media thinks the Warriors-Grizzlies series will turn out.

1. The team at SB Nation believes that it will be a quick series, on average predicting that the Warriors will win in five games. For the record, Tom Ziller, Ricky O'Donnell, and Paul Flannery each predicted that Golden State will win in five games, while Mike Prada opined that the Warriors will be victorious in six games.

2. Zach Lowe of Grantland predicts that if Mike Conley plays, the Warriors will win in five games, while if (on the off chance) he does not play, it will be a Golden State sweep for the second consecutive round.

3. Zach Harper of CBS Sports also thinks this will be a short series, predicting that the Warriors will win in five games.

4. ESPN's Amin Elhassan predicts a Warriors sweep regardless of Conley's health, while his colleague Bradford Doolittle thinks the Warriors will win in five games.

5. NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper thinks that the Warriors earn a seven-game series victory.

Do you think the Warriors will handle the Grizzlies in the Western Conference Semi-Finals? Give your answer in the comments below!

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