Game Report: Warriors bounce back to beat Suns
Another home game, another double-digit win for the Golden State Warriors. Their 118-96 win over the Phoenix Suns stretched that streak to 11 games, in doing so breaking the Suns’ own streak of 18 wins a row.
The game went largely to script given the Warriors went in as firm favorites, that being despite the Suns winning the first battle between the teams on Tuesday. After being kept to the worst shooting game of his career, Stephen Curry went about making amends, knocking down his first two threes as the Warriors started 5-6 from beyond the arc.
The Golden State Warriors managed to overpower the Phoenix Suns, who were without Devin Booker, in a bounce-back effort after Tuesday’s loss.
After taking a seven-point lead at the end of the first, and stretching that to 11 with under four minutes to play in the second, Golden State began to find themselves their own worst enemy. The turnover issue reared its head again, however, more importantly, they couldn’t keep themselves out of foul trouble. Phoenix finished the half on an 8-0 run to reduce the margin to three, all eight points coming from the line as Warrior frustration mounted.
That was forgotten when the Curry and Andrew Wiggins show catapulted the Warriors early in the third, combining for the first 13 Warrior points of the half. When Jordan Poole added a three-ball soon after, the lead had extended to 11.
From there the margin never dipped below seven, the Suns’ offense never finding the rhythm required to threaten a comeback. Curry quietened out of the game, failing to add to his 23 points after the 7:48 mark of the third.
Instead, it was the Warrior bench that stood up, in particular the duo of Gary Payton II and Juan Toscano-Anderson. The former’s minutes were reduced in the first half of Tuesday’s game, Steve Kerr surprisingly opting for Chris Chiozza instead. Toscano-Anderson had also had a down game with five turnovers in just 13 minutes. But back in front of a raucous home crowd, the pair provided the energy that’s made them such valuable contributors to the Warriors rotation.
The Suns competed hard like top teams do, however, Booker’s absence limited them offensively and their defense wasn’t the same in the second half, unsurprising given it was their third game in four days.
It was another signature team performance from the Warriors, the 22-point win lifting them above the Suns to once again hold the title as the NBA’s best record.