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The Golden Breakdown: How the Warriors took command of the third quarter behind Durant’s playmaking and Looney’s hustle

Having had two days of rest — a luxury in the grit and grind that is the NBA regular season — the Warriors were expected to come out of the gates firing nuclear missiles against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Instead of rest, the Warriors showed rust.

In the first quarter — and pretty much for most of the first half — the Warriors were forced to play at a pace that the Grizzlies favored. Coming into Monday night’s game, the Grizzlies had a paltry 96.81 possessions per game, good for 29th in the league, per NBA.