SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors haven’t had many wire-to-wire wins this season, however their 123-112 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Monday closed a short homestand in essentially the most pleasant style.
The victory slides Golden State (36-33) into fifth place within the Western Conference standings and pushes its report at Chase Center to 29-7.
The Warriors shot 54.2 % from the sphere, together with 48.7 % from distance, with Klay Thompson torching the nets for a game-high 38 factors, whereas Stephen Curry completed with 23 and Jordan Poole added 20.
Here are three observations from a recreation by which the Warriors’ victory avoids a four-game season sweep to fourth-place Phoenix and places them 1.5 video games behind the Suns:
Reminder: When protection cooks, offense eats
Maybe the teachings of the primary 67 video games lastly have been discovered. The Warriors, for the second consecutive recreation, took a lead into the second quarter.
And this time the margin was gargantuan: 43-21.
Thompson’s scoring will get lots of love, deservedly, but it surely was Golden State’s protection that when once more set the tone for the primary quarter. The Suns missed their first 4 photographs and 7 of their first 10. That, together with 4 turnovers, allowed the Warriors to take a 22-7 lead in a bit of greater than six minutes.
While limiting Phoenix to 38.1 % capturing from the sphere for the quarter, the blazing Warriors have been at 72.7 % and led by as a lot as 25 factors.
This is a dramatic change for a staff had a lot bother in first quarters. Credit the protection, which pressured six turnovers, for spoon-feeding a lot of the offense.
Coming after a 28-26 first-quarter lead over the Bucks on Saturday, that is the primary time since Feb. 4 that the Warriors received the opening quarter in consecutive video games.
Klay’s fabulous first half
Anyone who has watched the Warriors over the previous 11 years has seen Nuclear Klay many occasions, but the sight of it at all times sends a present of electrical energy by way of the constructing, significantly when it’s their residence enviornment.
The Klay “splashathon,” irrespective of how typically, stays one thing to behold, and it was on full show within the first half, offering the sellout crowd with a number of moments of euphoria.
Thompson ravaged the Suns for 33 factors – the very best complete by any Warrior in any half this season – on 12-of-18 capturing from the sphere, together with 8 of 12 from past the arc.
With the standard number of photographs on a Klay heater, together with unbelievable launches that discover the underside of the online, he poured in 16 of Golden State’s first 24 factors, personally outscoring Phoenix 16-9 at that time.
Klay completed with 38 factors (14-of-23, 8-of-14) however managed to place his fingerprints on a recreation by which he scored solely 5 factors within the second half.
“Spurtability” issues
The Warriors led by as a lot as 25 factors and appeared on their solution to an utter blowout of a Phoenix staff lacking Kevin Durant. But in fact, it’s wouldn’t so neat and clear.
After slicing the margin to 17 on the half, the Suns continued their assault within the third quarter, coming inside 9 (80-71) with 7:40 left within the quarter and getting as shut as three (85-82) with 4:32 left within the quarter.
Put merely, the Suns took benefit of Golden State’s declining depth.
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The Warriors, nevertheless, recovered properly by closing the quarter on an 11-4 run and taking a 98-88 lead.
That spurt was sufficient to take a lot of the will out of the Suns, because the Warriors maintained a double-digit lead all through the fourth quarter to button up the victory.
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