What was supposed to be a dazzling matchup that might symbolically determine the NBA’s future instead has harkened back to the NBA’s past.

Warriors-Grizzlies was expected to be a gorgeous display pitting otherworldly ball-movement and shooting against otherworldly athleticism; pitting the superstars of yesterday in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson against the superstar of tomorrow in Ja Morant.

Which superpower would emerge as a possible championship team in what was accurately hyped as the league’s most intriguing second-round matchup?

What has emerged, through three games, is a series whose biggest moments evoke the 1990s — when bodies were flying, tempers were raging and the game was more about force than beauty.