OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors easily dispatched the young Phoenix Suns 138-109 on Saturday for their third victory over Phoenix this season. The game featured a 20-point quarter from Stephen Curry, a blistering overall shooting performance from Klay Thompson and a few defensive highlights from emerging rim-protector Kevin Durant.

On a night when nearly everybody was rolling, Durant's complete game (20 points, eight assists, three blocks) had Warriors coach Steve Kerr speaking in superlatives.

"Phenomenal," Kerr said of Durant. "This guy is amazing."

The efficiency was on display for years in Oklahoma City, but Durant's three blocks continue a trend that might have come out of necessity. It has been noted that the Warriors lost two rim-protectors this offseason in Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli. Less advertised is Durant's capability in front of the cup. After Saturday's three-swat performance, Golden State's 6-foot-11 small forward is averaging 1.75 blocks per game. As Suns center Alex Len can attest, Durant protects the rim -- viciously, if need be.

Early in the second quarter, Len went for a dunk, with gusto, only to become the butt of the YouTube highlight he sought. Quite a few times this season, Durant has risked getting posterized. More times than not, he has gotten the better of the exchange.

There were a few reasons Greg Oden was taken ahead of Durant atop the 2007 NBA draft, despite Durant's outproducing the Ohio State center and flaunting a more varied skill set. One reason might have been that Durant's abundance of skill made him harder to categorize and harder to project. Oden was a classic, rim-protecting, paint-pounding center. Durant had a center's height, with a guard's range -- a guard in a center's frame, as the saying goes.

Durant is on a career-high pace in blocks, which indicates that he just might be a center in a center's body as well. His skills were such that the big-man role was too limiting. But in this circumstance, the Warriors have been better for Durant to occasionally play the part.

In addition to the Len swat, in the third quarter, Durant started a transition that led to a Curry 3-pointer with a wholly vertical spike of an Eric Bledsoe layup.

That play came soon after Durant, in full sprint, shoveled a perceptive pass for a Thompson trey. To Kerr, that sequence typified something about Durant, who shot only seven times for his 20 points on the night. Kerr didn't want to take Durant out in the third, after his superstar had shot only five times.

"Let's get him a shot before he comes out," Kerr said of his thinking at the time. "And he comes down in transition, probably could have taken it all the way, and he whipped it back to Klay for that 3. And I looked at [assistant coach] Mike Brown, and Mike said, 'I don't even think he cares if he shoots.'"

Kerr finished his statement with, "I think Kevin just takes so much joy in other people doing well. He's so talented, he can get his points without even really having to try that hard."

Durant's consistent efficiency has been something to behold this season, and so too has his versatility. He's co-anchoring the defense with Green, passing well and scoring with ruthless efficiency every night. Perhaps he cannot win the MVP award on a team laden with these expectations, but he just might be playing the best basketball of his career.

Speaking of MVPs, Curry did a lot with his opportunities, as he claimed 31 points on 15 attempts. It wasn't a game in which Curry went isolation, as he tended to do the past two seasons, but instead a cool 31, claimed within the flow. In the third quarter, he hit three 3-pointers while making the Suns pay in the paint when they sold out to stop the distance game.

Thompson was on fire from the start, and though the Suns clawed their way back a bit in the second quarter, they were helpless against an onslaught that included more than Thompson's 3-pointers. For Golden State, there was a paucity of poor performances Saturday, as the Warriors again easily solved whatever challenges Phoenix offered.

Despite losing in double overtime Thursday, the Warriors appear to have coalesced. Although Curry might be playing a more restrained game, Golden State is finding another level as Durant reaches new heights.