Phoenix Suns bested by more desperate Warriors in Christmas loss
Dec 25, 2021, 7:04 PM | Updated: 7:16 pm
PHOENIX — Both the head coaches of the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns said after losing to the other team that they felt their team got too sped up.
When Phoenix’s Monty Williams expanded on that prior to the third meeting between the squads on Saturday, he said it comes down to who imposes their will more.
There is absolutely no doubt which team achieved that in a 116-107 loss for the Suns on Christmas to a shorthanded Warriors group.
“They played harder than us,” Williams said. “And it is rare that I would even hint at saying that about our team. I thought they outworked us more consistently for 50/50 balls, timely offensive rebounds, diving out of bounds to save it to their own teammate — they made plays like that a number of times tonight.”
In a flashback to what plagued them in the NBA Finals, the Suns gave up 21 points off turnovers and 19 second-chance points. To be fair to Phoenix (26-6), it nearly matched those totals with 12 points off turnovers and 20 second-chance points. And it was a highly competitive game that showcased the two teams that are clearly the league’s best at this juncture.
But the difference is that the Warriors (27-6) were without Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Damion Lee due to health and safety protocols, their next three leading scorers on the season after Stephen Curry.
The static in the game allowed guys like Otto Porter Jr. (19 points), Gary Payton II (14), Jonathan Kuminga (12) and Nemanja Bjelica (10) to score outside of traditional half-court settings. The Warriors were first on many 50/50 occasions and the Suns once again failed to dominate the glass in a matchup they have the size advantage for, losing the rebounding battle 42-37.
“I never want to feel like another team played harder than us,” Williams said. “And it doesn’t mean that they were at a 10 and we were at a 2. But I’d much rather see it 10-9, 10-8, whatever that is.”
Curry was average for his standards outside of a spurt in the fourth quarter. He shot 10-for-27 from the field and 5-of-16 on 3s for 33 points. The Warriors rebounded six of Curry’s 11 misses from deep.
That is one example of how the Suns let Golden State get a few too many baskets off just sheer effort and basketball IQ. Warriors forward Draymond Green decimated Phoenix in a first quarter stretch where he amounted to three points, two rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block.
A few of his assists were off backdoor cuts the Warriors made to take advantage of the Suns’ switching and attempted ball denial on the perimeter. There is an extra half-second or so Green gets a pass off before just about anyone else in the league and it was especially problematic for Phoenix to account for on Saturday.
Green finished with eight points, eight rebounds, 10 assists, three steals and three blocks. He was arguably the best player on the floor.
While Phoenix had contributions across the board, Golden State was so excellent as a team that the Suns needed a star-studded effort to counter that.
No one got to that level.
Point guard Chris Paul scored a season-high 16 points in the first half but finished with 21. Devin Booker shot 5-of-19 from the field for 13 points while Deandre Ayton (18 points) and Mikal Bridges (17) both checked in above their season scoring averages.
Phoenix’s bench had only six points at halftime but ended at 30 to almost catch up to the Warriors’ 34.
All of those factors layered into the game consistently enough to where the quarter-to-quarter flow wasn’t all that relevant. A 10-point lead for Golden State in the first quarter was the most separation the game saw. A 15-3 Suns run in the next period caught them back up and the game was just about even from that point on.
Curry scored 10 of his 33 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and assisted five more points to get the Warriors back in control up seven with under seven minutes remaining.
While the Suns got it down to a one-possession game at a few different stretches, they never had enough of a final blow in them to take control.
At a 104-99 scoreline in favor of the Warriors, Porter of all people went on to score or assist his team’s next 12 points, including a 7-0 run with a little over two minutes left in which he drained three straight jumpers.
Those are the types of things you can’t look down on the basketball gods for given how the Warriors did more from a team perspective all day.
The Suns’ ball movement was described by Williams as “non-existent from a consistency standpoint.” Phoenix finished with 20 assists on 40 made baskets, making it only the seventh time since the start of last season that the Suns’ assist percentage has failed to crack 50%.
