Warriors Outlast Suns

Durant and Curry Combine for 65 Points

The Warriors grinded out their second-straight road victory, defeating the Suns 106-100 in Phoenix on Sunday. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 37 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Stephen Curry added 28 points, including five three-pointers, while Draymond Green filled the stat sheet with five points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. With the victory, Golden State improves to 2-1 on the season.

Dawning their new Crossover alternate jerseys for the first time, the Warriors opened Sunday’s matinee game in Run TMC-like fashion, following the lead of their two-time reigning MVP. Stephen Curry converted each of his first four shot attempts, accounting for all of Golden State’s first 10 points on the afternoon. Kevin Durant would follow that up with a jumper and then find Zaza Pachulia for a three-point play on the next possession to put the Warriors in front 15-8. That would turn out to equal the Warriors’ largest lead until the final minutes of the game, as Phoenix immediately responded and played Golden State tough for the remainder of the contest. The young Suns would bounce back with a 16-0 run, aided in large part by four careless Golden State turnovers. Draymond Green would eventually end the drought with a dunk with 1:58 remaining to pull within 24-17, but a 6-0 Phoenix burst in response would give the Suns their largest lead of the game with 38 seconds left in the quarter. Golden State would then score the final five points of the frame, capped by Ian Clark’s three-pointer with one second remaining, trimming the Suns’ lead to 30-22 at the end of one.

Durant would open the scoring in the second frame with two free throws, and would end up closing it out in the same fashion. After assisting on Andre Iguodala’s dunk with 43 seconds remaining in the half, Durant would close out the quarter in a fury, scoring eight points in the final 29 seconds to pull Golden State within 57-55 heading into halftime. Durant led all scorers with 19 points at the midway point, tallying 15 in the second quarter alone.

Golden State pulled even on two occasions in the opening minutes of the second half, and after Curry put the Warriors in front with three free throws at the 10:00 mark, the Dubs maintained that advantaged through the rest of the quarter. David West and Green would hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Warriors a 76-70 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the frame. Phoenix would cut that lead in half, as Golden State took an 81-78 advantage into the fourth and final quarter.

Despite entering the contest winless on the season, the Suns showed their mettle by giving Golden State all they could handle until the final whistle. Phoenix would retake the lead first on a Leandro Barbosa jumper, and then again 32 seconds later on Alex Len’s layup with 10:15 remaining, but that would prove to be their final lead of the game. Andre Iguodala sank a jumper 27 seconds later to ignite a 6-1 Warriors’ burst, and Golden State never looked back. A three-point play from Durant with 1:19 remaining increased the Warriors’ lead to 102-94, which would prove to be their largest advantage of the entire game. Phoenix responded with six-straight points to make it a one possession game with 19 seconds remaining, but Curry and Durant each made two free throws apiece in the final seconds to secure Golden State’s 106-100 victory.

With the win, the Warriors improve to 2-1 overall and 2-0 on the road this season. Next up, they’ll round out their current three-game road trip when they travel to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.