warriors vs suns recap (Photo: @katswnt Instagram account)
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA – The Golden State Warriors got a much-needed win tonight, thanks to their huge offensive third quarter against the Phoenix Suns, as they scored 38 in the period following the halftime break.
The Dubs had big numbers from David Lee, who had 26 points and 9 rebounds, as well as Klay Thompson, who tallied 22 points.
Going with a small lineup in defense of Channing Frye‘s abilities to shoot the three as a “stretch-four”, Andrew Bogut only played 14 minutes tonight. Draymond Green took a lot of his time and had 13 points in 22 minutes.
FIRST QUARTER
The first quarter did not go as planned for the Warriors, but the first possession was something everybody expected, a Lee isolation. He scored, but it was as if he were the only one who wanted to play offense this quarter.
Besides Gerald Green, doing his best interpretation of a Poor Man’s Michael Jordan over the past two weeks, collected 9 points in the first quarter. The Warriors trailed 29-22 at the end of one.
SECOND QUARTER
The Warriors got it rolling in the second quarter, as they started to play defense and score. Perhaps it was luck from the #SCSplashBrothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson‘s brothers who play for the NBA D-League Santa Cruz Warriors, taking over the @warriors twitter account for the second quarter.
Golden State got splashes from Harrison Barnes, Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Green in the quarter, which fueled the Warriors’ comeback. The Warriors would cut the lead to one, but the Suns started hitting near-ridiculous threes from everywhere on the floor. At halftime the Warriors were behind, but by only five, 51-46.
THIRD QUARTER
The Suns kept hitting shots, but the Warriors would start to trap and press Goran Dragic in the backcourt. This did a couple of things: forced a turnover that led to an Iguodala layup, and made him work harder and get tired more quickly.
In making Dragic become a better passer, Gerald Green continued his hot shooting, but the more famous “regular” #SplashBrothers got the Warriors the lead at 74-73, halfway through the third.
The Warriors would extend the lead to five after a couple of threes from the #SplashBrothers. Golden State kept playing at a high level, pushing the lead to 9 with the score 84-75, which would force a Suns timeout. They stretched that into a 94-78 lead heading into the fourth.
FOURTH QUARTER
Thompson kept up his great shooting to start the fourth quarter off with a jumper to keep the lead at 16. Steve Blake would keep the lead around 15 thanks to his own three ball with 8:14 left in the fourth quarter.
Turnovers were a killer for the Suns, as they committed 18 of them by the middle of the fourth. Phoenix kept playing their style of basketball, which cut the lead to nine, with 5:48 left.
The Warriors lead started to slip, as the lead would go down to six with 2:46 left in the game. A huge turnover by Phoenix would result in a Curry jumpshot to put Warriors up eight.
With 46.6 seconds left, the Warriors were up by six and the Suns called a timeout. Gerald Green would get a lay up to cut it to four.
The Dubs missed on the ensuing possession, but Iguodala flew in for an offensive rebound and was fouled with 15.6 ticks left in the game. However, he missed both free throws and Phoenix called another timeout.
After yet another critical turnover by Phoenix, Blake was fouled immediately, but missed both as well.
After yet another Suns timeout, with the Warriors still up 4. Iguodala was fouled after a Marcus Morris airball. Iguodala this time hit both from the charity stripe to put the Warriors up 6.
Golden State held on and beat Phoenix by a final score of 113-97.
RECAP ROUND-UP
Sarah Todd of SFBay.ca:
The first half wasn’t pretty for Golden State. Multiple lane violations and turnovers, Klay Thompson only scored five points, Stephen Curry air-balled multiple three’s and David Lee racked up three early fouls.
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Stephen Curry stood by himself, near midcourt – clapping his hands in exaltation and screaming cheers of joyful bliss.
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If his quadriceps was hurting, he had totally forgotten about it as Phoenix called a timeout to try to stop the Warriors’ 16-0, third-quarter run.
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Curry played with a great fire, and David Lee and Klay Thompson picked up any needed scoring slack to claim an important 113-107 victory over surprising Phoenix on Sunday night at a sold out Oracle Arena.
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
The defense arrived late, but when it showed up it brought gifts to the Warriors.
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Points – lots of points – which generated the momentum that carried them to a 113-107 victory over the Suns before a sellout crowd Sunday night at Oracle Arena.
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The Warriors (40-24) have won four in a row and are 9-2 since the All-Star break.
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After a first half in which Phoenix shot 56.1 percent, the Warriors locked down in the third, holding the Suns 31.3 percent shooting (5-of-16) and forcing seven turnovers, turning a 61-56 halftime deficit into a 94-78 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
The Warriors went on a 16-0 run as Thompson hit each of his three 3-point attempts in the third and Curry connected from long range, dished out three assists and took a charge in that stretch.
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Lee had game highs of 26 points and nine rebounds, Thompson scored 13 of his 22 points in the third, and Curry had six of his assists in that quarter.
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Golden State broke through in the third after Phoenix had led by as many as 12 points in the first half, with Thompson’s 3-pointer giving the Warriors a 74-73 lead.
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