Two nights after notching their first win of the 2016-17 campaign, the Golden State Warriors (1-1) were in the Valley of the Sun to face the Phoenix Suns (0-2).
The Warriors were without Patrick McCaw, who sprained his left ankle in the game at New Orleans, and Damian Jones (pectoral surgery). Golden State wore their new alternate #RunTMC-inspired italicized blue tops.
The Suns were at full strength and wore their alternate orange jerseys.
1st Quarter – Drought
The game was delayed slightly at the outset due to scoreboard issues, but once play got started, Stephen Curry scored the Warriors’ first ten points on a jumper assisted by Zaza Pachulia, a top-of-the-arc triple off a curl which Eric Bledsoe couldn’t get around in time…
.@stephencurry30 feeling it early on @csnauthentic 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Xl8QxwmI6F
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) October 30, 2016
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…a teardrop, and another trey swish from the left arc on a hand-off from Pachulia:
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But the young Suns kept pace, mainly through the hustle and jumpshooting of T.J. Warren.
However, Kevin Durant got the better of another of Warren’s jumpers, blocked it, got the rebound, but Draymond Green missed the in-transition three.
Green made up for it on the defensive end with nice defense against Warren, forcing a bad shot, and Durant made a left-sdie dribble-and-pop against center Tyson Chandler.
Jared Dudley then missed a trey, and “KD” played give-and-go with Zaza and Pachulia got an “and-one” out of it in the lane, converting the free throw after a timeout from Suns head coach Earl Watson:
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The Warriors held an early 15-8 lead with 6:45 remaining.
But Klay Thompson missed his second straight try and Dudley drilled a wide-open three from the right arc as the Warriors sagged way too far off of the long-range specialist.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr didn’t like what he saw and took a quick 20-second timeout to talk that over.
Unfortunately, the bottom fell out for the Warriors after that talk. Thompson missed his third straight shot, and Warren made them pay with a lob to Chandler for a dunk.
Curry made a dribble too high on a crossover, although Dudley threw the ball away, then Klay missed his fourth straight, and Brandon Knight went backdoor on a nice pass from Chandler for two more.
Pachulia then threw the ball behind Andre Iguodala on a cut, and Bledsoe went upstairs again to Chandler for another smash.
Steph walked into a trap after crossing half court, got doubled, found Green, but Draymond threw the swing pass right into the hands of Warren, who outlet to Bledsoe for the uncontested layup, and Kerr had no choice but to call another timeout, as the Suns bolted ahead, 19-15, approaching under four minutes.
Out of the timeout, Pachulia tracked down an offensive rebound, but threw it right to Eric Bledsoe, who raced up court and found the trigger-happy Warren open for another three.
The Warriors did well to force a shotclock violation as Iguodala, Ian Clark, and Pachulia all gave good help, but Leandro Barbosa checked in and did what he does best, “blurring” past Green for a lefty runner.
The Suns led 24-15 with 2:27 to play, a 16-0 run.
It wasn’t until Draymond made a slip on a high pick play, for a dunk, when the drought of over four minutes was finally broken.
However, Warren kept going, getting a dunk on a putback of an Alex Len miss from point blank, KD got past Len, and after another miss from Len, Klay left a drop-off pass for Clark for a triple, ending the quarter down 30-22:
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2nd Quarter – Got Curry/KD
Thompson made a nice change-of-hands scoop past Len to close the Suns’ gap to four points at 32-28 with 9:20 to go, but youngster Marquis Chriss made a layup via Barbosa and a three from the top.
Durant was able to block Chriss, then got a left banker to drop as Knight held Curry off the ball with no call.
Bledsoe drew foul shots against KD, then Clark made a bad pass that led to a Devin Booker-to-Knight three-pointer on the break from the left side, to make it 38-31, Phoenix, as Kerr called another timeout.
Out of the timeout, Steph swished a three on the catch-and-pivot from the right wing, with Knight bothering him from behind and, inexplicably, referee Ed Malloy not blowing the whistle.
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Curry was frustrated and immediately gave a hard foul to Knight, who had held him on the previous play with no call, in the backcourt, to draw the attention of the ref.
After a couple of empty possessions, Bledsoe missed a jumper short, Green got the rebound, raced up the court into the paint, and fed Steph for three more from the right side to close the Suns’ margin to 43-37 with 4:39 left.
But Warren answered back with a triple, and Durant traded steals with Dudley. The only thing was, Dudley was in the paint when KD gave it away, and Dudley easily fed Chandler for another jam.
After some free throw trading, Steph found Durant on the baseline with a lead bounce pass backward, and KD calmly swished the fade-away moving backwards, then Klay found Curry on a cut for a lefty scoop, parting the Phoenix “Red Sea”.
But Steph fouled Dudley in the post and headed to the bench with his third personal.
Draymond made another turnover, the team’s 9th of the half, and that led to a guard-to-guard alley-oop as Bledsoe impressively slammed home a lob from Knight on the ensuing break.
That gave Phoenix a 54-45 lead.
Klay missed a jumper, but Chandler gave the ball right back to Iguodala and Durant fed Andre a smash inside to turn the tide.
Knight missed a three, Draymond pushed ahead and Durant stopped-and-popped for a trey on the run.
Bledsoe was fouled by KD, but Clark grabbed the second free throw, a miss, and found Durant streaking up the court.
KD soared into the lane and smashed home a poster dunk, with the foul on Warren, with just 6.6 seconds left:
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That brought the Warriors to a 55-53 deficit.
Bledsoe then got past Clark and drew a foul on Durant with 2.4 seconds remaining, but Warren made a bad foul, tangling up with KD on the next inbound, and Durant’s free throws re-closed the gap to 57-55 at halftime, as the Suns couldn’t get a shot off against the Warriors’ full-court defense.
Golden State had given up 18 points on the 9 turnovers.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @withthepoons)
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