It’s all about the margin for error and how much you nurture it when you’re undermanned and at a talent disparity the way these Phoenix Suns are, a lesson the Golden State Warriors taught in a 118-107 Suns loss.
All it took on Tuesday night against a great Warriors (5-3) team was an initial wave of missed shots on one end and made ones on the other to turn this into a healthy Warriors lead. Phoenix (3-5) scored four points in the last 5:04 of the opening frame, resulting in a 16-4 Golden State spurt to go up 14 heading into the second quarter, with the Warriors making 10 of their first 16 attempts from deep. There was not much of a gap in shot quality.
That’s when the Suns got sloppier, resembling the form they showed in the opening five games before the two most recent showings were far more encouraging. Defensive rotations weren’t as crisp, they were losing 50-50 balls and unforced errors offensively started sprouting up.
As you’d expect, the Warriors ran with that to extend their lead to 25 midway through the quarter, reviving that trend of large early deficits from the opening four fixtures. This was all with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler at a combined eight points. Phoenix found some easier pathways to scoring the rest of the half, only for Curry to knock down a few triples and keep the edge at 19 going into halftime.
The second half began with Curry scoring an open layup off a cut and a Suns turnover setting up an open Curry 3. That was a nice signal to conclude any more observations on the flow of this game. To include just one more, this was another Suns effort with a valiant comeback attempt, including a 16-2 run in the late third quarter and another surge in the final frame that got the Warriors lead down to eight, but the mistakes that got the Suns in that position kept resurfacing.
Devin Booker’s supreme form from the last two contests carried over with at least his shot-making. He was 13-of-24 for 38 points but Golden State at times looked OK with giving Booker room to score at the expense of his playmaking getting things rolling for the overall offense. It was also more of his teammates missing shots that led to four assists and five turnovers.
Mark Williams had a productive 16 points and 16 rebounds with four assists while Grayson Allen added 16 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals.
It has been a rough start to the season for backup centers Oso Ighodaro and Nick Richards. Ighodaro’s limitations as an offensive player are getting exposed as a player with no ability to score effectively beyond open finishes at the rim. Richards just can’t avoid self-inflicted errors. Those minutes were a major struggle on Tuesday.
Both playing at this level will continue to increase the amount of uproar from fans wanting to see No. 10 pick Khaman Maluach. He is surely being held out now due to Phoenix not seeing much value in him learning through mistakes, and also the gap in effectiveness it sees with him and the other options. But if that gap just isn’t there anymore, it changes the thought process.
Curry found his way to 28 points and Warriors wing Moses Moody was one of the guys where you just accept some of the shots he made en route to 24 points.
While turnovers were fairly even, 17-16 Suns, the big gap was in points scored off them, a 25-12 Warriors edge. That, again, was another big-time issue from the concerning first week of the season.
Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) and Dillon Brooks (core muscle strain) were very much missed in this one for Phoenix. Still no concrete updates on a timeline or potential return date.
Butler only played the first half for Golden State after initially being listed as questionable, finishing with two points (1-for-5) in 14 minutes.
