Matt Steinmetz

I never thought rebounding was defense.

I thought rebounding was rebounding. Rebounding was what you had to do to get from defense to offense — kind of like a task or obligation or responsibility. I can’t speak for everyone, but that’s the way I thought of it. And, yeah, I thought everyone pretty much thought that, too.

Until Don Nelson told me about 10 years ago he thought rebounding was absolutely part of defense — that it was the final step, the culmination of the process of getting a stop.

LINK: ‘WARRIORS WRAPUP’ FROM GOLDEN STATE’S WIN OVER PHOENIX.

I never thought rebounding was part of a player’s defensive resume or a team’s defensive resume. Nelson disagreed. At the time he said rebounding was the last action of a successful defensive possession.

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Warriors guard Stephen Curry went out on Wednesday and played a round of golf outside Phoenix. Apparently, he shot a 75 at the Seville Golf and Country Club, in Gilbert, AZ.

Later in the day, Curry shot the lights out at Talking Stick Resort Arena downtown, leading the Warriors to a 120-111 win over the Suns. Curry finished with a game-high 42 points on a wonderful night of shooting: 15-for-26 from the field, including 8-for-13 from beyond the arc.

LINK TO ‘WARRIORS WRAPUP,’ THE POSTGAME SHOW FROM WARRIORS-SUNS GAME.

With the win, the Warriors (65-14) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and throughout the NBA postseason. It is the first time in NBA history that a team has won 65 games in three consecutive years. Oh, and the win was their 13th straight.

Curry scored 23 points in the first quarter alone and had one stretch where he scored 19 consecutive points. He had 16 points in the game’s first six minutes, going 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

The Warriors played without Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala, both of whom got the game off.

The Warriors, of course, have put together this 13-game winning streak without Kevin Durant, who is rehabbing his injured left knee. After Durant was injured in Washington in late March, the Warriors lost 5 of their first seven without him, then embarked on this streak.

The better news for the Warriors is Durant is expected to return for Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Oracle Arena.

Sometimes figuring out why one team won and why one team lost doesn’t take a lot of thought. Which was the case in the Warriors’ 121-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors made shots from beyond the arc and the Timberwolves didn’t. Simple as that. And nobody made more than Klay Thompson, who finished with seven 3-pointers and a 41-point evening. The Warriors went 14-for-32 from beyond the arc (43.8 percent), which doesn’t sound too crazy if you’re familiar with them. But they buried 14 of their first 24 3-pointers, which took out any drama from the final 18 minutes.

Meanwhile the Timberwolves went 4-for-19 from beyond the arc.

LINK TO ‘WARRIORS WRAPUP” FROM GOLDEN STATE’S WIN OVER T-WOLVES.

It was the Warriors’ 12th consecutive win, a streak which interestingly enough began after a March 11 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio when the Warriors rested four players: Stephen Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Speaking of the Spurs, they remained 3.5 games in back of the Warriors in the battle for the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

This is the second 12-game winning streak of the season for the Warriors — though all of the wins on the current streak have come without injured forward Kevin Durant. The Warriors have been playing without Durant since Feb. 28, when he injured his left knee in a game against the Wizards.

The Warriors are expecting Durant to return for Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Oracle.

The Warriors put this one away in the third quarter, like they’ve put so many games away in the third quarter. Golden State outscored the Timberwolves 36-26 in that quarter and are now a plus-446 in third quarters this season.

No. 2 is San Antonio, which is plus-223 and the Rockets are third at plus-190. No other team is plus-100.

The Warriors’ third-quarter highlight came courtesy of Stephen Curry, who buried consecutive 3-pointers to give Golden State a 94-75 lead with 4:29 remaining. Curry finished with 19 points and nine assists.

At that point in the game, the Warriors were shooting 61.4 percent from the field and 56.5 percent from 3-point range. Golden State finished the game shooting 52.4 percent.

It was the Warriors’ 204th victory over the past three regular seasons, which matches the Chicago Bulls’ mark from 1995-96 to 1997-98 for most regular-season wins in a three-season span.