The Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 110-96 in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at Chase Center in San Francisco on Friday to win the series 4-2.

The Warriors have reached the West Finals first, waiting for the winner between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, who will compete in Game 7 at Footprint Center on Sunday.

The Warriors put Kevon Looney back in the starting line-up and had him play over 35 minutes in Friday's game, which was much longer than his average time in this series. This was a desperate move because the team was busted by the Grizzlies in rebounding in lost Game 5. The return of Steven Adams caused trouble for the Warriors in the paint. Moreover, Otto Porter Jr., the only big man who has both size and 3-point shooting ability on the team's rotation, sat Game 6 out due to foot injury.

Looney turned out to be one of the biggest surprises for the Warriors on Friday night as he grabbed court-high 22 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive glass. He, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins dominated the rebounds in which the Warriors led 70-44. They grabbed 15 more offensive rebounds than the opponents. This enabled the Warriors to shoot eight more field goals (104-96).

Wiggins and Green both made surprising contributions as well. Wiggins not only drained hit 3-of-5 from downtown, he also delivered three blocks for the Warriors. He has been the team's first choice to guard the opponents' ace in the playoffs this season, but Wiggins did remarkable work in helping defense in Friday's game.

Green, who had averaged only 7.2 points in 10 previous games in the postseason, showed rare determination on the offensive front to get 14 points in Friday's game. He will never become a productive scorer, but there is a difference between not scoring a lot of points and not scoring at all. When Green charged the rim more often, like he did in Game 6, the defenders had to pay more attention to him instead of ignoring his presence.

Of course it was still the "Splash Brothers" who made the decisive performance on offense for the Warriors. Though Stephen Curry was unfocused and careless with the ball in the first three quarters, he stood out in the final quarter by making three triples in four minutes, helping his team extend the lead from three (92-89) to 16 points (108-92).

Nonetheless, nobody shined more than Klay Thompson on Friday night. There are three people in NBA history no one wants to meet: Michael Jordan in the finals, a furious Kobe Bryant and Thompson in Game 6 of a series.

Back in Game 6 of the West Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016, Thompson drained record 11 triples to help the Warriors win. He seemed to be repeating history at Chase Center on Friday after shooting 5-for-5 behind the arc. Though the final number of 3-pointers he made was eight, it was Thompson's firepower that held the Warriors together in front of the opponents' ferocious offense in the first three quarters.

The Grizzlies tried to copy their way of achieving the big win in Game 5 and they achieved similar progress by shooting 13-for-30 in triples in the first three quarters. The Warriors' sloppy dealing with the ball, which led to 17 turnovers during the same period, also seemed to be in their favor.

However, the Warriors managed to return to defense fast enough in Friday's game, limiting the Grizzlies' fast break points to 15. That plus the huge deficit in rebounds stripped the Grizzlies of two of their most important scoring methods. When it grew hard to make triples in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies found they couldn't score as easily as they did in the paint.

That's when the team realized how much they missed Ja Morant, who missed the past three games because of a bone bruise on his right knee. Dillon Brooks and Desmond Bane may shoot better than him from outside, but neither has Morant's destructive power of charging the rim or his ability to change the opponents defense via penetration, especially in half-court offense.

Having matched a franchise history record of 56 wins in the regular season, the second-youngest team in the 2021-22 NBA season, the Grizzlies finished their journey in the West semifinals. No one had foreseen they could be so good this season. They have a young rising star Morant as their leader, the blocks leader Jaren Jackson Jr. and a group of role players who are aggressive and energetic on the court as well as valuable assets on the trade market. The future is on their side.

As for the Warriors, they made it to the West Finals in their first return to the postseason in three seasons. It's the sixth straight Conference Finals trip of Thompson when he can play. Curry and Green were with him in all of those six times. Moreover, the last time Thompson scored 30 points in a playoff game, it was Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Raptors in 2019. It was also in that game that Thompson suffered the torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee.

Things seem to be back on the right track for the Warriors after three years of struggle.