What an exclamation point from the Suns! In the duel of the western giants, Chris Paul and Co. achieved their 17th win in a row with a 104: 96 win against the Warriors and thus set a franchise record. The Suns never let Stephen Curry get going and dominate crunchtime.
Phoenix Suns (18-3) – Golden State Warriors (18-3) 104:96 (BOXSCORE)
At the end of an intense and high-quality encounter, which did justice to a duel between the two best teams in the NBA at every level, the Suns won the last 5 minutes of the game with 12: 5 and thus secured their 17th victory in a row – Phoenix has thus set the franchise record from the 2006/07 season.
That succeeded although the home side had to do without the ailing Devin Booker (10 points in half one) in the second half. Instead, Chris Paul directed the offense in crunchtime (15 points, 11 assists and 5 steals), Deandre Ayton dominated the zone (24 and 11 rebounds) and Jae Crowder (4/9 threesomes) and Cameron Johnson each scored 14 points.
On the other hand, Jordan Poole (28, 6/12 threesome) was the best scorer, Stephen Curry, on the other hand, remained largely pale. Against the excellent defense of Mikal Bridges, the MVP candidate of the first quarter of the season hardly saw any land, in the end the worst shooting performance of his career was in games with more than 20 completions: Curry only got 12 points and 2 assists in 4/21 the field and 3/14 from downtown.
Both coaches bet on their usual starting fives and, as expected, Bridges was given the task of defending Curry from the start. The Splash Brother hardly got any free space, it took almost five and a half minutes until he got his first points on the scoreboard.
Things went much better at Backcourt-Partner Pool. After Ayton worked hard to give the Suns a slight advantage in the zone, the Warriors Guard caught fire. At the end of the first quarter he had 16 points, including a personal 11-0 run that gave the Dubs the lead (28:22). However, JaVale McGee also did some damage in the zone and the Suns stuck with it. 35:31 for the Warriors after the first section.
Phoenix Suns: Strong Defense fuels comeback
Now Otto Porter Jr. (9 out of 16 points in the second quarter) was infected by Poole’s triple fireworks. The dubs moved up to 9 points, but both offenses now had significantly more problems. Golden State brought the home side into trouble again and again with a zone and a box-and-one defense, the Warriors fought with too many ball losses (9 with the Warriors to 6 with Phoenix in the second quarter alone). The equally good Suns bank, however, led Phoenix back, the home side went into half-time with 56:54.
Before going into the dressing room, however, the Suns had to cope with a downer: Booker was unable to continue playing due to problems with his thigh. Nevertheless, Phoenix took control for a short time after the break thanks to a strong defense, a bridges fastbreak dunk brought the Suns down to +9 – before Poole reported back again and shortened to 78:80 at the end of the quarter.
Phoenix Suns beat Warriors with heavy crunchtime
It remained so exciting until the final minutes. Neither team could develop a real advantage until Crowder sank two jumpers in a row about four minutes before the end (97:91). The Suns demonstrated their clutch magic, CP3 raised another jumper out of the zone, while Golden State was again sidelined by the strong Suns Defense.
Poole was also unlucky, a three-way attempt already looked into the ring, but fell out. In the decisive phase of the game, the guests remained almost three minutes without points, and Phoenix was punished ice cold. Paul now had the Suns offense completely under control, Landry Shamet served on the wing – nothing but net! The triple to 102: 92 one minute before the end was the dagger. On the night of Saturday, however, the Warriors get the chance to take revenge.
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