MEMPHIS — Stephen Curry was almost a solitary figure on the team bus late Saturday night, leaving FedExForum and heading back to his hotel room — where he undoubtedly planned to pace, stew and question everything.

His teammates wouldn’t allow it.

Draymond Green, Festus Ezeli and David Lee repeatedly texted Curry until he got off the bus and joined them on Beale Street at Blues City Cafe, where they ate, interacted with fans and heard “MVP” chants while camera-phone flashes sparkled from outside the restaurant’s window.

“Relax, sit back, eat, talk and just kick back,” Green said after Sunday’s video session.

It was a brief and probably much-needed escape from the reality that faces the Warriors on Monday night, when they’ll be fighting for their playoff lives.

In less than a week, the Warriors have gone from the team that had a historic regular season and seemed to have a clear path to the NBA title to being on the road against an experienced and mauling Memphis team that is up 2-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

“It’s not a must-win game, but it’s pretty close,” Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson said of Monday’s Game 4. “We’re not going to hang our heads. This is the first adversity we’ve really faced this season. It’s a long series, and we won’t be the first team to come back from being down 2-1.

“It’s going to be a great challenge for us. There are going to be bumps in the road, if you want to win a championship.”

History says the Warriors will be hard-pressed to win the championship, but they still believe in their story.

Of the 360 teams that have led a best-of-seven NBA series 2-1, 81.7 percent have gone on to win the series. But the Warriors haven’t lost three consecutive games since last season, they didn’t lose four of seven during any stretch this season, and, if this series goes to a seventh game, they’ll play twice more at home — a place where they’ve lost only six times in their past 54 games.

“It’s a different feeling, but it’s a challenge you take head on,” Green said. “It’s unfamiliar territory, but it’s something we’re looking forward to and looking forward to responding to adversity. We really haven’t faced adversity all year, so now we are, and it’s a great chance to respond to it.”

Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala, the team’s resident cynic, thinks that the Warriors should have figured this out during the regular season but that they are so talented that they could get away with making mistakes.

“We’ve kind of played with the game a little bit,” he said. “We’ve sneaked out a few that we shouldn’t have gotten away with and kind of got it rolling. But the playoffs are a lot different. It’s good to go through growing pains to see if you respond when things aren’t going your way. We’ve just got to continue to try to get that good karma on our side by playing good basketball.”

According to Iguodala, some of those good vibes started showing in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Game 3 loss. The Warriors started double-teaming in the post — something they haven’t had to do much with high-level defenders Andrew Bogut and Green.

But the change in defensive strategy forced the Warriors to rotate differently, communicate differently and trust differently. Even if they master those things, Memphis big men Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph are going to be stat-stuffing loads in the paint.

So the Warriors have to figure out what happened to their offense — the one that showcased ball and player movement, rhythm and flow and had the league wondering if anyone could stop it.

Memphis has. The Grizzlies have limited the Warriors to 93.3 points per game on 45.3 percent shooting from the floor and 31.3 percent shooting from three-point range, while forcing 17.7 turnovers per game.

The Grizzlies have been all over the Warriors, taking their air space and contesting every shot — without fouling. They have iPads filled with video of the Warriors’ offensive sets and appear to be aggressively waiting to pounce on the first, second and third options of each play.

The Warriors aren’t going to be able to get into a track meet with Memphis, so they need to use the Grizzlies’ pressure and physicality against them — making precise drives to the rim, mixing in backdoor cuts and shoving back to create space.

“As you would expect, this is a proud group,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “We’ve had a tremendous season, but we’re in a position where we have no choice but to respond to the adversity.

“We will. I’m confident in that. We’ve got to compete for 48 minutes. We’ve got to defend harder. We’ve got to do everything better. That’s what the playoffs are about. You have to know your opponent, you have to learn from each game and you’ve got to respond when things don’t go your way.”

Sometimes you have to break routine, get off the bus and just relax.

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

Monday’s Game 4

Who: Warriors vs. Grizzlies

Where: Memphis

When: 6:30 p.m.

Series: Grizzlies lead 2-1

TV: TNT

Radio: 680

Offense grinds to a halt

The Warriors’ league-leading offense hasn’t clicked in the past two games against the Grizzlies, both losses. Here are some of their averages from those two games compared with their regular-season figures:

Pts FGA FG% 3FG% Asst Reb TO PIP* Reg. season 110.0 87.0 47.8 39.8 27.4 44.7 14.5 45.3 Games 2-3 89.5 74.0 42.6 23.1 18.0 42.0 18.5 37.0

*Points in the paint

Grizzlies vs. Warriors

(Memphis leads best-of-seven series 2-1)

Game 1: Warriors 101,

Grizzlies 86

Game 2: Grizzlies 97,

Warriors 90

Game 3: Grizzlies 99,

Warriors 89

Monday: at Memphis,

6:30 p.m. TNT

Wednesday: at Warriors,

7:30 p.m. TNT

Friday: at Memphis, TBD* ESPN

Sunday: at Warriors, TBD*

* if necessary