Warriors cruise in exhibition finale
Golden State wins sixth in a row as Curry scores 35 in victory over Portland
OAKLAND — Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts joked before Friday night’s exhibition finale that the only way to beat the Warriors this season might be to score 150 points.
“If you get 150, you’ve got a good chance,” he said, “because I don’t think you can hold them to 80.”
Golden State made it six in a row to close the exhibition schedule, posting a 107-96 win over Portland. Stephen Curry, who had 32 points two nights earlier, scored 28 by halftime and finished with 35.
The Warriors open the regular season Tuesday at home against San Antonio and their offense, boosted by the addition of four-time NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant, is the talk of the league. Durant had 28 against the Blazers, who whittled away much of a 21-point Warriors lead in the fourth quarter before succumbing.
But coach Steve Kerr believes his team also will hold its own at the other end of the floor. He told KNBR this week he expects the team to be “very good” defensively.
He acknowledged before Friday’s game the team will have a different defensive personality without rim protectors Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli, both let go to make financial space for Durant. But there will be no surrender on the defensive end. “I do like the potential,” he said. “We’ve gotten better
since the first couple exhibition games. I think as long as we’re committed and we’re playing hard and playing together at that end we should be a good defensive team.”
Kerr said the defensive schemes are largely the same. In particular, the Warriors will continue to make defensive switches on the perimeter to disrupt their opponent. But the importance of staying in front of the ballhandler will be more important than ever.
Bogut, now playing in Dallas, blocked 114 shots last year. That security blanket is gone.
“You can’t ever just assume somebody’s going to clean it up behind you,” Kerr said. “Bogut gave us that luxury at times. He and Festus … they’d clean up a mistake.”
The tradeoff is Kerr believes he has strong position defenders, and lots of perimeter players with shot-blocking potential. Of new center Zaza Pachulia, he said, “He doesn’t jump that well but he knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s a really good defender. He’s in the right position all the time.”
The Warriors gave their final roster spot to 7-footer JaVale McGee, who blocked 711 shots in his first eight NBA seasons.
Golden State actually blocked 44 shots through the first six exhibition games — 7.3 per game. McGee had just four of those, but newcomers David West and Pachulia had eight and seven, respectively. And Durant, whose defense often is overlooked, had nine swats through six games.
“KD is an excellent defender when he truly applies himself. He’s been doing that in camp,” Kerr said.
Stotts said the Warriors will miss Bogut and Ezeli, but he isn’t feeling sorry for them.
“I think they did all right,” he said of the Warriors’ off-season roster shuffle. “I think they’re going to be OK.”
The Warriors showed a video tribute to Ezeli, now with the Blazers, during the first timeout. That drew huge cheers from the Oracle crowd, which he acknowledged with a big smile and wave to fans.
Klay Thompson sounded off Friday about an ESPN article that quoted an unnamed Warriors source saying the the team “played like a bunch of cowards” in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year after Draymond Green was suspended.
Kerr echoed that reaction before the game.
“It upset me, too. I don’t know who said that. I guarantee is wasn’t any of our coaching staff. I’d be shocked if it was anybody in basketball management,” Kerr said. “We don’t do that. Nobody ever said that to me, `Those guys played like cowards.’ I have no idea where that came from.”
Thompson’s complaint was with the anonymous nature of the comment.
“If you call someone a coward, how are you not going to put your name on that quote?” he asked after the team’s morning shootaround. “It’s easy to point at someone and call them a coward behind like a shade or a shield. But why don’t you put your name to it and then you can call us cowards? That’s fine.”
Kerr’s suggested reporting has changed, and agreed with Thompson’s reaction to using an unnamed source on such an explosive quote.
“What is an unnamed source? Who are sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking?” he said. “What used to be a credible source . . . standards are a little bit lower now.”