Warriors hold off Suns 116-113 as Curry and Green return, streak reaches five
Stephen Curry scored 34 as the Warriors beat the Suns 116-113 at Chase Center, getting revenge for October and pushing their winning streak to five.
With Stephen Curry and Draymond Green back in the lineup, the Golden State Warriors got their rematch with Phoenix and won it 116-113 at Chase Center on Monday night. Curry scored 34 points, according to the Yahoo Sports recap. The win is Golden State's fifth straight and moves the team to 5-3.
The result evens the season series and settles a score from late October. In the first meeting, Steve Kerr rested Curry, Green, Al Horford and Brandin Podziemski on the second night of a back-to-back, and Devin Booker put up 43 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a 131-122 Suns win, as Golden State Of Mind of SB Nation noted in its preview. That was Phoenix's only win of the young season. This time the Suns got the full version of Golden State's core, and the margin was thin, but it went the other way.
Curry and Green had both sat out Sunday's 124-112 win over the Clippers, a night when rookie Yaxel Lendeborg scored 37. Before that rest day, Curry had piled up 99 points across three straight wins in Denver, Minnesota and at home against the Lakers. Monday added to a run that has turned a 0-3 start into the best stretch of the Warriors' season.
They are still doing it short-handed. Golden State Of Mind listed Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, Kristaps Porziņģis and Gui Santos as still out. That leaves Kerr leaning on Curry's scoring, Green's direction and young players such as Lendeborg, and so far it has held up.
Phoenix came in reeling. The Suns lost by 41 to Portland on opening night, then fell in Oklahoma City and at home to Denver after beating Golden State. Through four games they ranked last in the league in defensive rating, giving up 126.3 points per 100 possessions. The SB Nation preview described a slow, isolation-heavy offense that depends on Booker and Jalen Green hitting pull-up shots late in the clock. Against a Warriors team that leads the league in made threes and passes per game, that left Phoenix needing tough shots to fall just to stay close. The Suns also played without center Mark Williams, who is out after surgery on a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
What it means for Miami
Golden State hosts the Miami Heat on Thursday, November 5, on NBA TV, and comes in on a five-game winning streak. The early-season trend is clear. All three losses came in the first three games: 127-105 at the Lakers, 111-108 to Memphis at home and 131-122 in Phoenix without the core group. Since then the Warriors have won both road games, in Denver and Minnesota, by a combined 25 points and have won three in a row at Chase Center.
The close finish against the Suns is something to watch. Golden State's earlier wins in this streak were by double figures, and a three-point game against a team that had been giving up points to everyone shows this rotation still has little margin while four players are out. With two days off before Miami, the question is whether Kerr plays Curry and Green on consecutive game days or keeps managing their minutes, as he has done twice already this season.
