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My favorite recent Golden State Warriors anecdote comes courtesy of the San Jose Mercury News' Marcus Thompson. During their 122-107 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, coach Steve Kerr lost his mind because of a poor Stephen Curry pass.

On a fast-break to end the first quarter, Stephen Curry drove down the middle, spun away from the basket and threw an over-the-head, no-look pass to an open Patrick McCaw in the right corner. It sailed out of bounds. It was quite the turnover.

Kerr, standing close enough for me to hit him with a ball of paper, immediately spun away from the court and swung a haymaker. He stopped his fist just before he broke his hand on the scorer's table as he tried with all his might to contain his frustration. It was like The Incredible Hulk was trying to come out and he was trying to stop it.

He stormed to his seat on the bench, where video shows he continued to struggle bottling up his anger.

Curry walked towards the bench at the end of the quarter, shaking his head. Kerr was still fuming. Curry walked right past Kerr. I expected him to tell Curry to take care of the ball, encourage him to play smarter, get under control. Kerr couldn't even look at him. Walked right past him with a disgusted look on his face and looked to be venting about it to the assistant coaches in the huddle.

As much as Kerr has brought a sense of joy, calm and perspective to the Warriors, he's still a fiery competitor. As much as he gives his players freedom, he despises turnovers, especially silly ones. And as well as his team is playing, he obsesses over details like every other coach. I love the image of Kerr walking past the back-to-back MVP, furious, not even bothering to say anything. I'll bet the coaching staff showed the clip in a film session the next day, perhaps even getting some laughs out of it.

Here's the turnover, by the way:


WARRIORS CHECK-IN

Record: 46-8

Scoring leader: Kevin Durant (25.9)

Assists leader: Draymond Green (7.4)

Rebounding leader: Draymond Green (8.5)

Last week: Defeated Bulls, Grizzlies, Thunder (3-0)

GAMES THIS WEEK

Monday, 9 p.m. ET: Denver Nuggets

Where: Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado

TV: NBA League Pass

Streaming: NBA League Pass

Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. ET: Sacramento Kings

Where: Oracle Arena in Oakland, California

TV: NBA League Pass

Streaming: NBA League Pass

KEEP AN EYE ON ...

The bench

Before the season started, we ranked the Warriors' bench second in the league. As pointed out by FanRag's Kelly Scaletta, Golden State's bench is now indeed second in the league in terms of plus-minus, behind the San Antonio Spurs' reserves. It was always obvious that the Warriors would have an advantage against second units because they could stagger their four stars' minutes, but the story has been bigger than that.

Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston are the heady, two-way playmakers LeBron James wish the Cleveland Cavaliers had, and Livingston is shooting 57.1 percent. Per minute, JaVale McGee is somehow leading the league in plus-minus, per ESPN's Ethan Sherwood Strauss, and his teammates still seem excited about alley-oop opportunities whenever he's on the court. David West played his role just about perfectly before his injury, Ian Clark can put up points in a hurry and James Michael McAdoo has been quietly productive for the last three weeks. If Kevon Looney, Briante Weber or Patrick McCaw can find minutes and consistency before the end of the season, it will be unfair.

JaVale McGee
JaVale McGee dunks a lot in the Warriors' offense. USATSI

Large human beings

Fortunately for Golden State, it hasn't had nearly as much trouble with protecting the rim -- and defense in general -- as many predicted it would. The Warriors have been about the same as they were last year on the defensive glass, too. Still, center is their weakest position, and they face two excellent ones this week. The Nuggets' Nikola Jokic just dropped 40 points on the Knicks, and the Kings' DeMarcus Cousins is always a problem.

Making matters worse, Zaza Pachulia is still dealing with a right rotator cuff strain. He has been ruled out for the Denver game.

All-Star chemistry

The Warriors will have a huge presence at All-Star weekend. They are the eighth team in NBA history to have four All-Stars, and Kerr has already said he'll definitely play them together. Want to see what Golden State would look like with DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol or Cousins in the middle? Want to add Kawhi Leonard to the Death Lineup? It could happen! I'm personally rooting for Kerr to throw Russell Westbrook out there with the four Warriors.

My only complaint: How is Klay Thompson the only one of these guys in the 3-point shootout? I (sort of) understand Curry declining to do it this time, but it would have been cool to see Durant and the Splash Brothers competing against each other. Maybe Golden State can do its own competition at a practice, with Kerr, Steve Nash and Clark competing, too.

BIGGEST ONE-ON-ONE MATCHUP

Cousins vs. everybody: It's always fascinating watching the Warriors play against Cousins. They tend to try to agitate him and attack him on defense. They swarm him with their length when he puts the ball on the floor, and the Kings' 3-point shooters generally aren't reliable enough to punish them for helping off them. Cousins tends to turn the ball over against Golden State, but he gets his numbers, too. Physically, he's a lot for the Warriors to handle.