Marreese Speights gives Warriors instant offense

OAKLAND — Marreese Speights made the absolute most of his 81/2 minutes of action Thursday.

The Warriors’ backup big man was a huge spark with 14 points and even was a solid defensive presence in the victory.

“He was tremendous tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “He was aggressive, looked for his shot. I thought he also did a good job defensively getting out on screen-and-rolls.”

For as poorly as the Warriors started out in both of their blowout losses in Oklahoma City in Games 3 and 4, it was crucial to get off to a good start at home Thursday.

After Andrew Bogut had a big first quarter, Speights started out the second and delivered a quick nine points. That included two three-point plays that got the crowd going and then he hit an open 3-pointer.

“Mo is instant offense for us,” Kerr said. “He gives us a totally different look. We don’t have shooting from our five men. So he allows us to spread the floor and change the pace a little bit.”

Speights was also part of one the game’s most crucial moments.

The Warriors opened the fourth quarter with a lineup of Speights, Barnes, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa holding an 81-77 lead. That group went on an 8-0 run to kick it off and had a 10-point edge when Klay Thompson checked in for Barbosa with 9:01 to play. The lead was 13 by the time the Warriors sent Stephen Curry and Draymond Green back on the court.

“We haven’t really been doing that the whole series,” Speights said of the second unit, “but we did tonight so we’ve got a lot of momentum going on to the next game.”