ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Less than 24 hours after the disposal of the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors (58-6) were back on the floor again to face the visiting Phoenix Suns (17-48).
The Warriors were without Andre Iguodala, who suffered a sprained ankle in the game against the Blazers and was ruled out for two weeks after an MRI revealed significant damage. Festus Ezeli also remained out (knee surgery rehab) while Kevon Looney was assigned to the D-League and will play in Santa Cruz tonight.
The Suns were without Eric Bledsoe (meniscus) and T.J. Warren (foot).
1st Quarter – The Extra Pass
Tyson Chandler got two buckets inside to start things off for the Suns, then Stephen Curry got called for an early foul defending Brandon Knight, but then took a charge on him.
Harrison Barnes struggled from the field, missing a bunny feed from Draymond Green, then rushing a three, but Green got Barnes an easy two-handed dunk as Draymond stole a telegraphed pass from Alex Len and led the break to get the assist to Harrison.
After missing his first two from deep, Curry drilled his third try from beyond the arc on a set play from sideline inbound, with Andrew Bogut supplying the key off-ball pick up top. Steph added a one-legged runner on the left elbow, but his SplashBrother, Klay Thompson, was cold, starting out just 1-for-5 from the field.
Phenom Devin Booker showed off a variety of drives plus soft touches and scored three early buckets, going past Barnes on multiple occasions with the aid of a Len pick-and-roll, such as this one:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Len was also effective, getting an impressive Euro-step-like play past Bogut for a dunk, then a righty scoop past Green, forcing Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to burn the first timeout as the Suns took a 16-13 lead with 5:04 to go.
Out of the timeout, Booker missed a jumper and Bogut found himself going down the lane with the dribble, cocking for a dunk, but he passed it up at the last moment to feed Barnes, much to Oracle’s dismay. But Barnes found Curry up top, Steph made Knight fly by, reloaded, and buried the triple:
Steph #SPLASH. #SlateNight on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/m6av3Qpc1r
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 13, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Bogut followed that up on the other end with a block of Booker:
.@andrewbogut says no! #SlateNight on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/e2ZBYqo0Z9
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 13, 2016
</
The Warriors went with their vintage passing after that, Green finding Leandro Barbosa who found Shaun Livingston, who finally gave it back to Draymond wide open for the uncontested baseline layup, which put the Warriors up, 22-19, with under two minutes to play:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Livingston then found Marreese Speights for an automatic jumper from the right baseline, Green and Booker traded running bankers, and Curry went with the upfake on the last possession, opening up a lane on the left side for a lefty scoop with 1.3 seconds left, giving Golden State a 31-24 lead after one quarter of play.
Curry led all scorers with 13 points while Green added 8. Booker also had 8 for the Suns.
2nd Quarter – Teletovic And Len Keep The Suns Close
Speights continued his hot streak, getting iso’ed against the smaller Chase Budinger and making a strong jumper, with the foul:
2 + 1 = Mo Buckets. #SlateNight on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/ODIKeUKt7E
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 13, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
After Brandon Rush swatted an Archie Goodwin attack, Speights ran the floor, got the pass in transition from Barbosa, and nailed another jumper. Suns head coach Earl Watson called a timeout as the Warriors stretched their lead to 36-25 with 10:36 remaining.
But the Suns made a push, as Mirza Teletovic made a turnaround and Len added a tip-in of a John Jenkins miss, and Kerr countered with a timeout as the Suns made a game of it, 41-36, with 6:54 to go.
Curry came back in, but missed a trey, and Len hit two more jumpers, both assisted by Archie Goodwin, and Goodwin added a righty scoop in transition after Anderson Varejao nearly airballed a catch-and-shoot, and the Suns tied the game at 44-44 with 4:40 left.
Varejao missed another catch, trying to makeup for the last miss, then drew an offensive foul on Len posting up on him, but Bogut subbed in.
The teams traded buckets as Green got a reverse layup, Len and Klay traded free throws, Teletovic made another impressive jumper, and Bogut rejected another Booker drive, leaving Thompson to lead to the break, advancing to Curry, who made a right-to-left move towards the hole that ended with a lefty banker to make it 52-48, Warriors, with 2:33 remaining at the next TV timeout:
Defense leads to offense on @csnauthentic. pic.twitter.com/NgSIFWI1Zm
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 13, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
With the Suns in the penalty, the Warriors took advantage from the free throw line, but Knight got an “and-one” after two offensive rebounds by Phoenix, Chandler got an alley-oop from Booker, and Green charged into Chandler after losing the ball on a dribble drive, sending Draymond to the bench with his third personal with 34.3 seconds remaining, replaced by Rush.
PJ Tucker made a left-corner triple assisted again by Booker, his fifth dish of the night, and on the last possession, Curry found Rush in the corner for three, but the shot came after the buzzer and was waved off, leaving Golden State with a slim 60-56 lead over Phoenix at the half.
Curry and Len led all scorers with 17 points apiece, with Len 7-for-10 from the field, while Green added 14 points, Klay had 9, Speights had 9, and Booker had 9. Teletovic went 4-for-7 from the floor to tally 10 points off the bench for the Suns.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jocelyndrake)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
