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Al Horford alone was apparently an upgrade over Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton.
After a lineup change, the Warriors pulled a 180 from their performance the previous night to cruise to a 133-112 win over the Grizzlies in the second half of a road back-to-back.
“Just a really good night for everybody who stepped on the floor, missing so many guys,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Green (back) was listed as questionable and ruled out shortly before tipoff with the same issue that kept him out of Sunday’s win over the Nuggets. Melton (knee) has yet to be cleared to play on consecutive days.
The 39-year-old Horford returned and led a rejuvenated effort from an undermanned Warriors squad, which had only nine players in uniform — including two-way player Malevy Leons — but had no problem dispatching a team that dismantled its roster at the NBA trade deadline.
Eight of them — all but Leons — scored in double figures, led by 21 from rookie Will Richard. Brandin Podziemski celebrated his 23rd birthday by stepping into the starting lineup and followed up his double-double effort Tuesday with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Playing against his younger brother, Pat Spencer was a game-best plus-23 while dishing out a team-high nine assists in 32 minutes off the bench. In some kind of law of brotherly inverse, Cam Spencer was a game-worst minus-29 for the Grizzlies.
All nine Warriors also hit at least one 3-pointer as Golden State rebounded from a dismal shooting effort the previous night, knocking down 49 of 91 shots from the field (53.8%) — 19 of 46 (41.3%) from 3.
It was nearly a teamwide 50-40-90 shooting performance — until Leons missed two free throws late in the fourth quarter, which also prevented him from becoming the ninth and final Warrior to reach double figures.
What it means
After their 113-109 loss to the host Pelicans on Tuesday, the Warriors avoided the disaster of being swept on back-to-back nights by teams almost trying to lose.
Turning point
Richard responded to a statline of zeroes in 17 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to score eight of his eventual 21 points in the first quarter as Golden State jumped to a 34-31 edge.
The Warriors widened that advantage to 74-53 by halftime, using a 27-8 run that lasted most of the second quarter to take control until Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo finally called timeout with 4:46 left.
In a rare matchup having a size advantage, the Warriors pounded the paint for 18 points in the opening quarter, which they used to create the looks that resulted in 8-of-16 shooting from beyond the perimeter in their dominant second quarter.
Illustrating it all was none other than Horford.
The veteran backed down a mismatched Javon Small for an easy bucket on the game’s opening possession and then delivered one of the most dynamic sequences of their second-quarter run, draining a 3 from the top of the key and swatting Small on the other end.
MVP: Al Horford
The Warriors haven’t won any of their three games without Horford since Jan. 3. During that span, they are 12-8 with him in the lineup after their win in Memphis. Golden State improved to 6-5 without Green this season.
“Al was fantastic,” Kerr said. “(We) went to him early to establish the post, and he created a lot of advantages for us.”
Stat of the game: 33-14 points off turnovers
The Warriors played a cleaner game than Tuesday night, decreasing their turnovers from 21 to 16 (many in garbage time). The Grizzlies also turned it over 16 times.
Golden State was simply much, much better at turning them into points.
Up next
The Warriors head home to host the Lakers at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, when they should be closer to full strength. They should have Melton and Green back, and Kerr said he is optimistic about Kristaps Porzingis returning, too.
Golden State (31-28) is four games behind the Lakers (34-23) for the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference — the cutoff to avoid the play-in tournament. The teams have split their season series so far and will square off one more time April 9.