OAKLAND, Calif. Daniel Cambronero Costa Rica Jersey . - Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson has been pleading with his players to improve their defensive effort and efficiency for most of the last two weeks. They finally answered his call. Stephen Curry had 38 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and the Warriors used a smothering defence to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 103-88 on Sunday night. "Just what the doctor ordered," Jackson said. Curry, the Western Conferences newly elected All-Star starting point guard, shot 13 of 23 from the floor while wearing shiny gold shoes to carry the offensive load. The Warriors did it all on defence together, though, building a 22-point lead midway through the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Golden State outshot Portland 41.8 per cent to 33.7 per cent and forced 15 turnovers while committing only nine. It was a season low in points and shooting percentage and it tied the largest margin of defeat for the Blazers, who entered averaging an NBA-best 109.5 points. "Just the will to win," Curry said. "We understand thats been one of our problems — just letting teams kind of cake walk around on the offensive end doing whatever they want to do early in the game." Damian Lillard had 16 points and four assists, and Wesley Matthews scored 21 for the Blazers, who had a quick turnaround after beating Minnesota in Portland on Saturday night. The Blazers had not been held below 40 per cent shooting all season. The defeat equaled a 116-101 loss to Houston on Nov. 5 for Portlands most lopsided margin. "That was a rough game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "The first half both teams played pretty well, but the second half we didnt have much going at the offensive end. Golden State did a nice job with its defence. It was just one of those nights where we just didnt have enough at the offensive end." David Lee added 17 points and 12 rebounds while playing with a sprained left shoulder, and Klay Thompson scored 17 for a Warriors team that had lost three straight at home. Jackson has been waiting for his team to correct its defensive deficiencies of late, even after victories. Golden State allowed an average of 92.8 points during a 10-game winning streak before dropping five of its last seven overall, allowing 108.4 points in those contests, including an average of 115 in the five losses. The Warriors never let the Blazers get comfortable. LaMarcus Aldridge, who finished with 11 rebounds and 10 points on 2-of-14 shooting, didnt score until 2:18 remained in the second quarter. "Just one of those nights where I couldnt get going and I didnt find a rhythm," Aldridge said. And the only time Aldridge started to get going, the Warriors responded. Andrew Bogut got into a skirmish with Aldridge after the whistle in the third quarter, then Aldridge tossed the ball at the Warriors centre. Officials called a technical foul on both players. The Warriors responded with a 16-2 run, with Curry connecting from outside and Lee cleaning up on the inside. Golden State held a 76-67 lead entering the fourth quarter, when it quickly turned the game into a rout. "What I like is we paid attention to detail," Jackson said. "We didnt have any game-plan breakdown. We battled. We competed. We made multiple-effort plays and we continued it all night long." Golden State started the final quarter on a 12-2 run to take control. Lees layup put the Warriors up 91-69 with 7:18 remaining, leaving little drama late. Portland pulled to 94-85 on Matthews free throws with 2:56 to play. Curry then connected on a jumper and a 3-pointer sandwiched around a free throw by Lillard to send most of the sellout crowd of 19,596 heading to the exits early — and happy. Curry, who doesnt usually guard opposing point guards, checked Lillard most of the game and never let the Oakland native find his stroke. "We can score the ball, but it stinks to come in the locker room and you see everybody had big nights, we just isolate the offensive end but we end up losing and its all for nothing," Curry said. "Games like this when you get a win and figure out how to close it out and get stops, it makes what we can do as a team on the offensive end that much more special." NOTES: The Warriors improved to 20-4 this season when leading after three quarters. ... The teams have split two games this season after the Blazers won 113-101 in Oakland on Nov. 23. They meet two more times in Portland. Marco Urena Costa Rica . The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 for Kennedy. Wrestling proved to be the difference with Kennedy taking Bisping down in the first, third and fifth rounds and keeping him there. The crowd at the Colisee Pepsi didnt like it and neither did Bisping, whose game is built on movement and technical striking.Celso Borges Costa Rica . Mata had already been dropped from Spains squad once this season and with the country blessed with so many playmakers, he was in real danger of being overlooked for the trip to Brazil to defend their title.INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Novak Djokovic beat John Isner 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-1 on Saturday to reach the final of the BNP Paribas Open, where hell resume his longtime rivalry with Roger Federer. "Its always tense. Its always emotional. Its always close," Djokovic said of the looming match up. "I look forward to it." Federer had a much easier time in the semifinals, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 and putting himself in position to win a fifth career title at Indian Wells. Djokovic is a two-time winner here. Federer leads their rivalry 17-15, having beaten Djokovic two weeks ago in the semifinals at Dubai. Before that, Djokovic had won three straight times over the Swiss star. Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska will play Flavia Pennetta in the womens final Sunday before the mens title is decided. Djokovic struggled with the big-serving Isner, who beat him here in the semis two years ago before losing to Federer in the final. "With that serve, obviously, he can win against anybody on a good day," Djokovic said. "I thought I returned really well today and allowed myself to have a bunch of opportunities on his service games." Djokovic had a chance to win in two sets, breaking Isner to go up 5-4 and then again at 6-5. But the American broke back at love to level at 6-6, then and then dominated in the tiebreaker. Isner won four straight points and served his sixth ace to win it 7-2 and force the decisive third set. "When you get to the tiebreaker with John Isner, whoever you are, youre not a favourite," Djokovic said. "I just tried to hang in there, stay mentally tough when I lost the second set, and played a great third." Djokovic broke Isner for a 3-1 lead in the third. Djokovic survived a break point in the next game and held for a 4-1 lead. Isner called for the trainer a second time in the match to work on an area above his left knee before he got broken to trail 5-1, missing two straight fforehands.Randall Brenes Jersey. Djokovic came up with his own big serve on match point that Isner couldnt return. "It prevented me from being able to go after my serve like I wanted to, but thats not the reason I lost," Isner said about having tightness in his knee. "I am disappointed, but at the same time, I had a good week here." Isner had eight aces to Djokovics seven, and the American managed 31 winners, just one more than Djokovic. While Djokovic had to sweat out his victory, Federer was coolly efficient on the hot day in the desert, firing seven aces and connecting on 72 per cent of his first serves in the match that lasted barely an hour. "Having the fire and wanting to win every single match and in the practice trying to improve as much as you can, Ive got the good balance right now, so its very encouraging," Federer said. Federer never faced a break point on his serve while breaking Dolgopolov four times, including a seven-deuce game to go up 4-1 in the second set. Dolgopolov had a chance to win that game four times, but each time his unforced error brought it back to deuce. Federer is aiming to make Indian Wells his second title of the year. Hes coming off a victory two weeks ago at Dubai, and has a 19-2 match record this year. He won titles here from 2004-06 and again in 2012. A year ago at Indian Wells, Federer injured his back during a match and took nearly a month to feel better. After Wimbledon, he re-injured his back and found himself questioning everything, leading to an uneven year for the sports once dominant player. Back here again, Federer feels like a new man. "Im just playing more freely overall and with more confidence because I can get to more balls without thinking," he said. "I can wake up without feeling sore. I can go to bed not feeling like I hope I feel better tomorrow. I dont have these thoughts going through my mind and Im not worried every single minute of the day." ' ' '
