DALLAS — Midway through the fourth quarter Wednesday night, while walking to the court out of a timeout, Kevin Durant saw a young fan sitting in the third row with a blue No. 35 jersey shirt with a peculiar name: “SNAKE.”
“Really?” Durant said, his arms spread wide.
“Tweet it!” the boy chirped.
It was yet another reminder that even fans of teams well below .500 can take issue with Durant. In helping propel the Warriors to a 125-122 win over the Mavericks at American Airlines Center, Durant reinforced why many love to hate Golden State: It has two former MVPs to help wipe away mistakes that would doom other teams.
With less than two minutes left, Dallas guard Wesley Matthews drained a three-pointer to put the Mavericks within 120-118. It was with 39.7 seconds remaining that Harrison Barnes, whom the Warriors parted ways with in summer 2016 to add Durant, who hit a 16-foot pull-up jumper to knot the game.
After Klay Thompson converted a layup to give Golden State back the lead, Barnes spun around in the key for the game-tying layup. The problem for Dallas? Curry, in his second game back from a sprained right ankle, appears intent on making up for lost time.
Four nights after erupting for 38 points against the Grizzlies, Curry stopped at the top of the arc and drilled the game-winning three-pointer. Mavericks were left grumbling as they filed toward the exits.
It was the exclamation point in what was a fitting encore for Curry: 32 points on 11-for-19 shooting, eight assists and five rebounds. Durant (25 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, four blocks), Thompson (25 points, five rebounds, four assists) and Draymond Green (18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) shouldered much of the rest of the load on a night Golden State only mined 18 points from its bench.
It was all necessary, given Golden State’s defensive struggles. A Mavericks team that entered Wednesday with the league’s third-worst offense shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 19-for-32 from three-point range. Six Dallas players — Matthews (22 points), Dwight Powell (21), Barnes (18), J.J. Barea (13), Dirk Nowitzki (12) and Yogi Ferrell (11) — scored in double digits.
Early last month, when Curry sprained his right ankle, Steve Kerr called a team meeting and outlined the game plan moving forward: Forced to endure an extended regular-season stretch without the face of the franchise for the first time in five years, Golden State would need to tight up defensively.
It was the turning point for a team that until that point had been inconsistent on that side of the ball. In the 11 games Curry missed, the Warriors went 9-2 as they held five of their opponents under 100 points and boasted the league’s top defensive rating.
Perhaps one of the only concerns that came with Curry’s return Saturday against Memphis was that, with the best shooter in the NBA history back on the floor, Golden State could be tempted to get lax defensively again. Such a worry was largely overlooked as the Warriors showed why they’re so potent, overcoming a 52.1-percent shooting night from the Grizzlies for a convincing win.
Golden State then had three days to prepare for a Mavericks team that had rebounded from a 9-27 start with four straight wins. However, such time hardly mattered on a night Dallas gave the Warriors their biggest scare in weeks.
The problem? Unlike Golden State, Dallas isn’t loaded with All-Stars, including two MVPS.
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Con_Chron