OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Golden State Warriors picked up a rare win over the Portland Trail Blazers by getting defensive.
Erick Dampier collected 11 points and 17 rebounds for his league-leading 12th double-double as the Warriors posted a 78-72 victory over the Trail Blazers, who remained winless on the road.
Golden State won for just the third time in 17 meetings with Portland by holding an opponent under 80 points for the first time since a 92-75 home win over the Boston Celtics on February 13, 2002.
Dampier keyed a defensive effort in which the Warriors allowed less than 80 points for the first time in coach Eric Musselman's tenure. They held Portland to under 39 percent shooting (32-of-83) from the floor, allowed just 31 points in the second half and outrebounded the Trail Blazers, 53-47.
"We are just going out there and playing hard every night," Dampier said. "We were able to get some big defensive stops when we needed to. If we play defense like that we are going to put ourselves in a position to win a lot of games."
"They played good defense," Portland forward Zach Randolph added. They were playing zone (defense), we should have pulled it out tonight."
The Warriors were unable to pull away, shooting just 38 percent. But they got three key baskets from former Trail Blazer Clifford Robinson down the stretch, including a jumper with 93 seconds remaining that made it 75-72.
Portland's Rasheed Wallace struggled all night, finishing with 11 points. He also fell down while being guarded by Robinson, which led to a turnover late in the fourth.
Golden State improved to 38 wins in 2002-03 but defense was lacking on most nights as it gave up more than 100 points 47 times. But in their first 13 games this season, only two teams have topped the century mark against the Warriors.
"We mixed it up tonight," Robinson said. "That is a tough team, you cannot let those guys run around freely and let them do what they want to do. You need to put some bodies on them, they are a really tough team offensively."
The Trail Blazers were held under 80 points for the fourth time in 171 all-time meetings with Golden State.
The Warriors had three players record 10 rebounds as Jason Richardson collected 21 points and 10 rebounds and Mike Dunleavy Jr. also grabbed 10 boards. They also held to Trail Blazers to seven percent from beyond the arc (1-of-15) and made key hustle plays all night.
"Dunleavy did a great job tonight," Musselman said. "He started the game on Dale Davis and he really set the tone for us. Twenty rebounds for Dunleavy, and Richardson tonight was huge because our theme coming into the game was that whoever won the rebounding battle would win the game."
