SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors haven’t had lots of wire-to-wire wins this season, but their 123-112 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Monday closed a short homestand in the most delightful style.
The victory slides Golden State (36-33) into fifth location in the Western Conference standings and pushes its record at Chase Center to 29-7.
The Warriors shot 54.two % from the field, such as 48.7 % from distance, with Klay Thompson torching the nets for a game-higher 38 points, whilst Stephen Curry completed with 23 and Jordan Poole added 20.
Right here are 3 observations from a game in which the Warriors’ victory avoids a 4-game season sweep to fourth-location Phoenix and puts them 1.five games behind the Suns:
Reminder: When defense cooks, offense eats
Perhaps the lessons of the initial 67 games ultimately have been discovered. The Warriors, for the second consecutive game, took a lead into the second quarter.
And this time the margin was gargantuan: 43-21.
Thompson’s scoring will get a lot of enjoy, deservedly, but it was Golden State’s defense that after once more set the tone for the initial quarter. The Suns missed their initial 4 shots and seven of their initial ten. That, along with 4 turnovers, permitted the Warriors to take a 22-7 lead in a tiny far more than six minutes.
Although limiting Phoenix to 38.1 % shooting from the field for the quarter, the blazing Warriors have been at 72.7 % and led by as a great deal as 25 points.
This is a dramatic transform for a group had so a great deal problems in initial quarters. Credit the defense, which forced six turnovers, for spoon-feeding a great deal of the offense.
Coming just after a 28-26 initial-quarter lead more than the Bucks on Saturday, this is the initial time due to the fact Feb. four that the Warriors won the opening quarter in consecutive games.
Klay’s fabulous initial half
Anybody who has watched the Warriors more than the previous 11 years has observed Nuclear Klay lots of instances, but the sight of it normally sends a present of electrical energy by means of the constructing, especially when it is their property arena.
The Klay “splashathon,” no matter how usually, remains a thing to behold, and it was on complete show in the initial half, delivering the sellout crowd with a number of moments of euphoria.
Thompson ravaged the Suns for 33 points – the highest total by any Warrior in any half this season – on 12-of-18 shooting from the field, such as eight of 12 from beyond the arc.
With the usual wide variety of shots on a Klay heater, such as improbable launches that locate the bottom of the net, he poured in 16 of Golden State’s initial 24 points, personally outscoring Phoenix 16-9 at that point.
Klay completed with 38 points (14-of-23, eight-of-14) but managed to place his fingerprints on a game in which he scored only 5 points in the second half.
“Spurtability” matters
The Warriors led by as a great deal as 25 points and seemed on their way to an utter blowout of a Phoenix group missing Kevin Durant. But of course, it is wouldn’t so neat and clean.
Following slicing the margin to 17 at the half, the Suns continued their assault in the third quarter, coming inside nine (80-71) with 7:40 left in the quarter and receiving as close as 3 (85-82) with four:32 left in the quarter.
Place basically, the Suns took benefit of Golden State’s declining intensity.
Connected: Kerr believes it really is “nuts” Durant has but to play in front of fans at Chase
The Warriors, nevertheless, recovered nicely by closing the quarter on an 11-four run and taking a 98-88 lead.
That spurt was adequate to take most of the will out of the Suns, as the Warriors maintained a double-digit lead all through the fourth quarter to button up the victory.
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