Warriors Takeaways: What We Learned From 110-93 Win Vs. Grizzlies

BOX SCORE

OAKLAND -- The rout was on for the Warriors from the moment the Grizzlies announced that point guard Mike Conley would not be unavailable Monday night at Oracle Arena.

The defending champions took command early and rolled to a 110-93 victory, with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant achieving milestones in the process.

Curry scored 20 points to surpass the 15,000-point mark and bring his career total to 15,010. Durant moved past Celtics legend Larry Bird and into 33rd place on the all-time scoring list with 21,806 points.

Here are three takeaways from the victory that pushed the Warriors to 21-10:

They took proper advantage of a diminished team

With Conley's absence, there was the possibility that the Warriors might have an emotional letdown, if only because they've been known to do that.

They avoided it this time by focusing on themselves and not the opponent.

The Warriors shared the ball -- nobody took more than 16 shots -- to get everyone involved on offense while also cranking up the defense any time there was the slightest hint of a threat.

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Yes, the Warriors sometimes fail to generate passion for opponents that clearly are overmatched. They summoned enough to get the job done.

Their pride was not about to allow them to lose to this bunch of Grizzlies.

Triple threats from the bench

The Warriors annual search for someone who can come off the bench and drain 3-pointers brought them to Jonas Jerebko last July. Andre Iguodala already was on the roster.

The two veterans provided a big scoring boost, combining for 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc.

In his first game back after a three-game absence due to hip soreness, Iguodala put in 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, all from beyond the arc. He was plus-9 over 16 minutes.

Jerebko scored 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep. He played 26 minutes and finished plus-16.

On a night when precious few triples -- a total of five -- were dropping for the starters, the bench did a fabulous job of filling the void.

They fired up the transition game

Coach Steve Kerr wanted to see if the Warriors could establish their usual fast pace against the deliberate Grizzlies. His team, for the most part, delivered.

The Warriors outscored Memphis 22-7 in fast break points. Moreover, they forced 16 Grizzlies turnovers and turned them into 27 points.

Memphis knew its only chance of pulling off the upset was if it could slow the game to a walk and play off 7-foot center Marc Gasol. That plan was thwarted because the Warriors also knew it.

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