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How many stars do the Warriors need to lose for them to lose?

The Warriors, still without Stephen Curry, and missing Draymond Green, beat the Blazers 111-104 Monday in a contest that was close for only a few moments.

Kevin Durant continued his incredible run of form, scoring 28 points, pulling down nine rebounds, dishing out five assists, and blocking three shots — bolstering the argument that he’s the best two-way player in the NBA — in the Warriors’ win, their seventh straight.

Behind Durant and Klay Thompson’s 24 points, it was a rather ho-hum affair — the Warriors played great defense, were efficient on offense, and were deadly in transition.

What’s new?

So, seriously, how many stars do the Warriors need to lose before they lose again?

Anyway, here are three other thoughts from yet another Warriors’ win:

David West is the Warriors’ best center — but you should have known that already

I’ve been pounding this point for weeks now, often, it’s seemed, to little avail. But if you were still skeptical of my claim that David West was the Warriors’ best center before Monday’s game, there’s no way you feel the same way after the Warriors’ win over the Blazers.

West was superb Monday. No, he was fantastic. Scratch that — he was near-perfect. Let’s go with him being a two-way dynamo who was a force for the 17 minutes he was on the court.

Ironically, West was a minus-2 in Monday’s game, but that says more about the lineups around him (things got weird Monday) than him — you don’t go 5-of-6 from the floor with four blocks in less than 20 minutes and not make a big impact.

West, at age 37, has been good all season, but he’s come up huge exactly when the Warriors have needed him.

With Stephen Curry out with his sprained ankle, the Warriors half-court offense was going to have less spacing, which would put more onus on the Warriors’ centers to provide on the offensive end. You can’t play 4-on-5 without Curry.

Seeing as West is the only Warriors true center with a viable jump shot, his minutes were always going to prove more valuable without Curry in the lineup — but add in his strong defense and ability to anchor the second unit (even more critical now with the Warriors’ strange staggering due to injury) and you have extreme value.

West has proven himself, time and time again this season, to be the Warriors’ best true center. He did again Monday.

… But Jordan Bell isn’t that far behind him

First, let’s stop with the Draymond Green – Jordan Bell comparisons — yes, both players are super-switchable smallball bigs that play with energy, but Green does so much more for the Warriors on the offensive end than the rookie does right now.

Until Bell starts running point in the Warriors’ offense, the comparisons to Draymond are one-sided only.

That said, given Bell’s incredible progression in his first season in the NBA, would you be shocked if he started running point come March or April?

Bell turned in another strong performance Monday — he’s on a run — without Green in the lineup, scoring 11 and pulling down six rebounds to go with another excellent defensive game.

Every minute Bell plays, he seems to improve, and with Green and Zaza Pachulia out of the lineup with shoulder injuries, Bell keeps getting (and justifying) more playing time and making more of impact.

Something that has really stood out in recent games: Bell is a great passer. He truly has a preternatural court awareness for a rookie, and every game, he shows just a bit more of it. If he shows he can dribble in the coming weeks, it’s game over. (He’s already showing he can knock down a jumper…)

West’s tremendous contributions have been found money for the Warriors — no one saw this kind of impact coming. It’s only December, but Bell has already paid back the $3.5 million the Warriors paid the Bulls for the right to draft him — we’re now entering the found money portion of Bell’s season and it could be extremely lucrative.

[Let’s all take a moment to recognize that the Warriors’ two best true centers are the 37-year-old on a minimum contract and a second-round rookie.

In the words of Draymond Green — will someone give Bob [Myers] some f—in credit?

Incredible stuff.]

Klay Thompson: playmaker

Another one of the Warriors’ big challenges with Curry out would be if Klay Thompson could produce without Curry’s gravity.

After all, without Curry, there wouldn’t be as much space on the floor, and Thompson’s catch-and-shoot game — the one that allows him to score 30 points without having to dribble — could disappear.

While Klay is still getting up shots in tight windows off the catch, he is showing another dimension to his game without Curry (and Green) out: his dribbling ability.

Thompson has claimed all year that he feels like he’s taking his playmaking ability to the next level. The box score might not show it, but you need only to look at how frequently (and successfully) Thompson is putting the ball on the floor over the last three games.

Thompson taking on some of the responsibilities of facilitating the offense takes pressure of Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and particularly Kevin Durant, who have been the main point men with Curry out of the lineup. It makes the Warriors’ offense that much more potent.