Blue Man Hoop
Fansided

The Santa Cruz Warriors defeated the Suns 99-92 on the way to their seventh win

By Gloria Sanderson

OAKLAND, CA - FEBRUARY 12: A general view as fans enter the arena before the Santa Cruz Warriors play against the Oklahoma City Blue on February 12, 2017 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - FEBRUARY 12: A general view as fans enter the arena before the Santa Cruz Warriors play against the Oklahoma City Blue on February 12, 2017 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Six lead changes and two ties later, the Santa Cruz Warriors have a 7-0 record.

The Santa Cruz Warriors improve their record once against the Northern Arizona Suns, the G League affiliate of the Phoenix Suns. On today’s edition of TimeOut, I am going to reveal five things Surf City fans should pay attention to going forward based on the Warriors 99-92 victory.

Sharing is caring.

The Warriors 7-0 record can definitely be linked to their willingness to share the ball. Although the Warriors had five fewer assists than the Northern Arizona Suns, the Warriors were able to keep the Suns under 100 points in their victory which has been a very interesting reality for the Sea Dubs this season.

For the season so far, they have kept three teams under 100 points: the Agua Caliente Clippers (97), South Bay Lakers (89) and the Northern Arizona Suns (92).

The Santa Cruz Warriors averaged twenty-one assists against the Suns with Juan Toscano-Anderson and Darius Morris leading in that area with six assists. Currently, the Santa Cruz Warriors ranks fourth in the league for assists after ironically the Northern Arizona Suns who had twenty-six assists for the night.

Turnovers!!!!

Twenty-nine. That was the number of turnovers the Santa Cruz Warriors had against the Suns. The Warriors are really taking a page from the Golden State Warriors where the more turnovers the team has the higher the chances of winning the game.

More from Blue Man Hoop

The Warriors had more turnovers than the Northern Arizona Suns, the team with the highest number of turnovers for the season thus far…. and still won by seven. Grant it both teams scored under 100 points but to pull off the win it is very impressive on the Sea Dubs path. Once again for Santa Cruz Warriors, the highest scorer in the game was also the player with the most turnovers.

No shocker it was Darius Morris. The beautiful part of Morris’s game is the reality that his scoring offsets the number of turnovers he commits.

Yes, he had seven turnovers but he also he had twenty-six points so along with the rebounds and assists etc., it is not shocking that he was +5 for the night. One thing we need to pay attention to is that Santa Cruz Warriors is a few turnovers away from being in the top five in the G-League for turnovers.

Turnovers may not be a problem now because the Warriors are getting the W but it will become a huge problem down the road when opposing team figure out their style of play.

Offensive vs Defensive Rebounds

Surf City was making their name known grabbing those boards. From tipoff to the end, the Warriors ensured to rebound the ball when they had the chance outrebounding the Suns in the first half: 14-3 in the first quarter and 13-6 in the second quarter.

Besides the explosive 30+ points in the 4th quarter pattern, the Warriors have developed the habit of making more defensive rebounds than offensive rebounds. Against the Suns, they made 35 defensive rebounds and only 13 offensive rebounds. They currently lead the league in the defensive rebound category with forty.

They grabbed the most rebounds in the first three-quarters of the game. They grab a total of twelve defensive rebounds in the first three quarters and in the fourth quarter, they grab a total of 10 rebounds.

Despite the team having significantly less offensive rebounds in comparison to defensive rebounds, they are actually fourth in the league in that area grabbing the most in the second and fourth quarter (3).

Side note: Finally the Warriors are over 50% from the three-point line.

Yes, they only attempted fifteen but I will take a 9 of 15 from three-point range rather than 24 of 70 night from three. Michael Gbinije who have been really good for Santa Cruz for the season was 4 of 5 and Darius Morris was 4 of 6.

As the season progress, we need to pay attention to the team getting into foul trouble. Alen Smailagic and Kendrick Nunn were the only players with zero personal fouls against the Suns. Michael Gbinije despite having 22 points, 5 rebounds he fouled out of the game.

Proposing five hypothetical trades involving Kevin Durant. dark. Next

Hopefully, as time progress, the foul trouble will decrease.

Home/Warriors News