OAKLAND, Calif. - Look past the hot-shooting touch of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the pace-and-space attack under rookie coach Steve Kerr and the highlight-worthy plays the Golden State Warriors deliver every game.Beyond the surface of the NBAs biggest crowd-pleaser is an often disregarded trait: defence.For the past three years, the Warriors have been a dominant defensive team disguised as an offensive juggernaut. Theyve taken that to the extreme this season, shutting down opponents on one end and running away from them on the other.Of course, the latter is what seems to stick in the minds of most.Its easy to fall in love with the offence, Thompson said. No one watches SportsCenter to watch the defensive rotations. You watch it for the highlight dunks, the Steph Curry dribbling exhibitions, his shooting and his passing. I think its easy to overlook it.Despite the prolonged absence of centre Andrew Bogut, the Warriors enter Wednesday nights home game against the Indiana Pacers as the leagues top two-way team.They have the best record in the NBA at 27-5. They have the best home record at 14-1. And they have the biggest scoring differential at 10.7 points per game.While the Warriors are shooting a league-high 48.3 per cent, theyre holding opponents to a league-low 41.8 per cent shooting. They also rank first in defensive efficiency (96.2), a trendy statistic that measures the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.Thats right: the same franchise that captivated the country with Run TMC in the early 1990s and the up-tempo We Believe team in the 2007 playoffs is at the forefront of defensive efficiency.So why, then, is there a lingering perception that the Warriors are just an offensive team?Probably because its really fun to watch Steph Curry and Klay Thompson play basketball, Kerr said, chuckling. The highlights show a bunch of 3s and the crowd going crazy. Thats my explanation.Kerr has gone out of his way to credit his predecessor, Mark Jackson, for laying the defensive foundation — which he said was so solid that his staff didnt really change anything about the schemes other than the terminology players use to communicate.The team has grown together and the personnel has slightly changed, though, such as adding 6-foot-7 guard Shaun Livingston to a team already loaded with length. The only other difference, Kerr said, is he challenged Curry to guard the other teams point guard every night instead of the weakest perimeter player.And more often than not, Curry has come through.We understand that (defence) is going to help us win games in the playoffs, Curry said. When that time comes, we can rely on it to get us through, hopefully, a lot of playoff series. It has been a focus and something weve seen the results of. Theres no other reinforcement we need to understand how important it is.The versatility on defence is what makes the Warriors special.They switch on pick-and-rolls and off-the-ball screens at every position but centre. That allows them to take away driving gaps and avoid tiring and unnecessary rotations.Draymond Green has been brilliant starting at power forward, a job he has cemented even since David Lee returned from a left hamstring injury. Marreese Speights and Lee also have played surprisingly well as undersized centres with Bogut (right knee) and backup Festus Ezeli (left ankle) out indefinitely.Players also credit the focus and attention to detail that has come with the addition of longtime NBA assistant Ron Adams, who is the de facto defensive co-ordinator. He sits with players before games to go over individual matchups and assignments depending on the opponents lineup.The result has put seven Warriors in the top 31 in defensive rating — Bogut (ninth), Lee (12th), Green (18th), Curry (19th), Thompson (26th), Andre Iguodala (27th) and Harrison Barnes (31st) — and might exemplify as well as anything just how much the defence has been an all-around effort.It shows in the numbers, it shows in the games, it shows in the record, Green said. Were going to continue to get better defensively and well continue to grow. Eventually, people will catch on.___Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAPCheap Athletics Jerseys . Carling Bassett-Seguso was a world No. 8 almost 30 years ago. Currently 13th, Bouchard is assured of equalling that when the next rankings are released Monday. Wholesale Athletics Jerseys .J. -- Fabian Johnson scored his first international goal and Clint Dempsey doubled the lead after a defensive lapse as the United States beat Turkey 2-1 Sunday in the second of three World Cup warm-up matches for the Americans before they head to Brazil. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/ . The Senators will put the busy off-season and training camp behind them when they open their regular season on the road. They kick things off Friday against the Buffalo Sabres and then head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Oakland Athletics Store . Colorado came up big against Chicago last spring, and repeated that performance Tuesday night. Varlamov stopped 36 shots and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks. Athletics Jerseys China . - The Washington Redskins have signed free agent offensive lineman Mike McGlynn.NEW YORK -- Paul Pierce called the Miami Heat a juggernaut. He insisted they are still the team to beat. So yes, the Brooklyn Nets have plenty of respect for the two-time defending NBA champions -- and no fear. Pierce made that clear again Sunday, a day after the Nets Game 3 rout that cut Miamis lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Brooklyn will try to even the series at home Monday night. "Youve got to have that type of mental ego against a juggernaut. You go against the best, a lot of series are won on fear factor, like, or non-belief. When you have that non-belief, then you have no chance," Pierce said after practice. "What I try to do in this locker room, or with my teammates, is just try to give them belief that we can beat this team. Theyre not unbeatable." The Heat had been in these playoffs until the Nets 104-90 victory on Saturday night. Miami hadnt even faced a fourth-quarter deficit, but was out of the game long before then after Brooklyn dominated the third quarter to build a huge lead. "The defeat was complete," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It was both sides of the basketball. "It was like trying to plug in holes in a leaking dam. There was so many things that were not in our favour really on both ends of the court." The Nets made 15 of 25 3-point attempts, outrebounded Miami 43-27, and limited LeBron James to two baskets over the final three quarters after he had 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first. Brooklyn swept the regular-season series, though none of the games was anywhere near as easy as Game 3. Yet the four victories gave the Nets a confidence against the Heat that some other opponents may not have. "We just had a little success against them during the regular season. We played them well and we feel like we match up well wiith them," Nets guard Deron Williams said.dddddddddddd "And if were on top of our game, were playing defence the way were capable of playing, like we did the last game, we put ourselves in a good position to win." Pierce did his part after the Nets were routed in Game 1, asking coach Jason Kidd to switch up the defence so he could guard James. And after he and the Nets did such a good job of it over the final three quarters of Game 3, Pierce said the Nets wanted to show the Heat that they werent scared of them. "Why should it be a fear factor?" James said. "Its just basketball. Were not trying to win a war here, its just basketball. Thats all it is. Were all grown men, who cares about whos fearing who? "Weve never been a team that talks. We dont get into that, and weve never been a bulletin board team. We just want to play the game the right way and we give ourselves a good chance to win if we play our type of basketball and last night we didnt do that." Miami had won its previous eight post-season games and followed every loss with a victory last year. To do that in this series, Spoelstra said the Heat would not only need better effort and urgency, but also more attention to the little details. Pierce is expecting that, as well as in Game 5 back in Miami on Wednesday night. Even though the Heat didnt look it Saturday, he believes they are just as good as the recent versions that ended his seasons in Boston. "Definitely. Theyre well-seasoned now. They know how to win," Pierce said. "Theyve won two championships, theres nothing they havent been through. So the one thing you always hear, its kind of a cliche, is never underestimate the heart of a champion, and you know thats what they have under their belts. So you know, theyre the team to beat." ' ' '