Warriors fans and Grizzlies fans get excited for games between the two Western Conference powers. But for Golden State, it's just another game.
Despite the bad blood and intensity between the two teams, Draymond Green made it plainly clear after the Warriors' 131-110 loss to the Grizzlies on Thursday night that there is no rivalry.
After the game, when The Daily Memphian reporter Chris Herrington began a question by mentioning the word "rivalry," Green quickly cut him off, starting a good-natured back-and-forth.
Green: "Let's not call it a rivalry."
Herrington: "What's that now?"
Green: "This a rivalry?"
Herrington: "Want to call it that or no?"
Golden State Warriors
Green: "If you want to call it that, but I would disagree."
Herrington: "All right, well, whatever you want to call it."
Green: "It's a basketball game."
A few moments later, ESPN's Tim MacMahon followed up on why Green doesn't consider the Warriors-Grizzlies a rivalry.
"One team has to win and then the other team has to win," Green said. "That's what creates a rivalry. Not because one team gets up for you and talk like they can beat you and then not. That doesn't create a rivalry. Rivalries are created by 'You win, I win.'
"Clearly we've won four times and I think their organization has zero championships, so I can't consider that a rivalry."
While the Grizzlies won Thursday, the Warriors emerged victorious in the Western Conference semifinal series in six games last May en route to their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons.
For Green and the Warriors, winning in late April, May and early June carries far more weight than winning a game in mid-March.
"Anybody can win in March," Green said. "Anybody can win in March. What that mean? I have a hard time getting out of my bed in March. What's a game in March mean?"
Whether it's a rivalry or just another basketball game, the two teams clearly don't like each other. The Warriors have what the Grizzlies want, and Golden State is trying to make sure Memphis never reaches the NBA mountaintop where they reside.
The rhetoric ratcheted up heading into Thursday's game, with Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks questioning Green's value to the Warriors in an interview with ESPN. A few days later, Green responded on his podcast, ripping Brooks.
Brooks tried getting under the skin of Green and Steph Curry on Thursday night, and had a few more words for the four-time NBA champion while talking to TNT after the game.
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The Warriors and Grizzlies have one more regular-season meeting scheduled for Saturday, March 18 at FedExForum, and there remains the possibility that they could meet again in the NBA playoffs.