Following a dismal defeat on Monday night, the Golden State Warriors bounced back on Wednesday, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 137-116 in a game they really needed to win. Even though the teams are rivals when healthy, Memphis has long since punched on the season when Ja Morant was sidelined and Steven Adams was sold, thus any result other than a victory would have been inexcusable for the Dubs.

They seemed capable at first. The Grizzlies were forced to call an early timeout as Golden State stormed out to an early 13-5 lead thanks to their disciplined defense and crisp, efficient offense. However, the timeout proved to be successful, and before long, Steve Kerr was also calling one, cutting the advantage to one. The sides battled back and forth until the quarter concluded, with the Dubs leading at 33-32. That timeout proved to be less successful.

That carried over into the following quarter. The Dubs were taking their sweet time, and we were all waiting for the Warriors to step on the throttle and blow past a badly wounded, lottery-bound team. While the offense continued to operate somewhat well, Golden State was struggling mightily to get ahead of players on defense.

Midway through the quarter, a small altercation broke out between Draymond Green, Desmond Bane, and Santi Aldama, including players, coaches, and referees at midcourt.

The Dubs went on an 8-0 run, seemingly energized by it, though Memphis answered right away.

With only a few minutes left in the half, it appeared that both sides would be locked in a close contest going into the halftime locker room. And then suddenly everything was different.

With some leadership from Jonathan Kuminga, the Warriors quickly put together a 10-0 run and led 68-58 at the half. And it felt like those few minutes had just been repeated as the third quarter started up again. Golden State went on a 22-0 run in less than four and a half minutes, scoring 12 points in a row to start the second half. In no time at all, the game went from being tied to being lopsided.

From that point on, the Dubs won with ease. For the remainder of the third quarter, the bench was outstanding, as Memphis was never in contention thanks to the contributions of Trayce Jackson-Davis (13 points and five rebounds), Chris Paul (14 assists), and Klay Thompson (23 points).

There was not a single dramatic moment in the fourth quarter. Or at least no bad drama; with the victory safely established, the bench mob had a decent run of minutes, culminating in Pat Spencer’s first-ever point. That is always cause for celebration!

Leading the way for the Dubs, Kuminga finished with a team-high 26 points on 12-for-17 shooting, along with two steals, five rebounds, and four assists. In a long time, Andrew Wiggins’ best performance was a hyper-efficient double-double with 10 rebounds and 22 points. Despite just scoring 14 points, Steph Curry only attempted nine shots.