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THE SCORE OF THE BOX
OAKLAND – The four-game series is dead, buried under a three-point shot and a timely defense.
The Warriors earned their first win in 10 days on Friday night, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 125-97 in front of a packed house (19,596 people) at Oracle Arena.
Kevin Durant had 32 points out of 13 shots out of 21 and Klay Thompson was 31 points while he had 12 points out of 21. It was their most effective combined effort since Stephen Curry left the training on Nov. 8 .
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Credit the return of the real defense
Missing for most of their recent slide was the least publicized element of the rebirth of this franchise: defense. It had been incoherent, even downright lacking.
This is not the case tonight, especially in the second quarter.
Shooting from behind at five minutes (29-24) with 11:22 to go in the half, the Warriors raised the defense and that paid off with a 22-3 run, giving a 46 lead. -32 with 5:40 at half-time. During that time, they blocked three shots and forced three turnovers while holding Portland on 1 out of 9 shots from the field.
The Blazers fired 30% during the quarter, during which the Warriors beat them 35-17. It changed the whole complexion of the game.
In addition, this six-minute period reminded the warriors of the galvanizing effects of high-intensity defense.
The night of the triples
The Warriors fought hard against 3-point shooting. Their last four games were worthless: 22.2%, 27.3%, 19.2% and 24.1%. The spacing was low, resulting in too many contentious shots.
They shot 53.1% (17 out of 32) from outside the bow, their third highest percentage this season. It was the fifth time this season that they were shooting at least 50% of the depth and the first time since November 5 against Memphis.
Six different players made triples, with Quinn Cook's 5 of 6 shot in the lead. Thompson was 4 of 9, Durant 2 of 5, Andre Iguodala 2 of 2, Jonas Jerebko 2 of 4 and Damion Lee 2 of 4.
The 17 3-point mark represents the second highest total of the season for the Warriors, behind only the game on Oct. 29 in Chicago, where they had 24 triples, led by Thompson's record, 14.
Bell dusted, earns minutes
Jordan Bell entered the game after playing a total of 10 minutes in the last three games, with five points and two rebounds.
He did better than that in eight minutes of the second quarter in which he posted his most comprehensive performance in two weeks: three points, three rebounds, three assists and one robbery.
With energy at both ends, Bell played an active role in the painting and contributed significantly to the senseless defense this quarter. He finished with five points, four rebounds, seven assists, one steal and one block. He was over 26 in 21 minutes.
Despite the team's numerical disadvantage, it was an afterthought. If he helps as he did in this game, he will come back in the rotation.
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