The Phoenix Suns opened up their season on the road against the Golden State Warriors. Bradley Beal was out tonight with lower back pain. Grayson Allen started in his place.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Opening Night Starters ☄️ pic.twitter.com/mwy7n1lwdn
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 25, 2023
First Quarter
Josh Okogie started the game on Stephen Curry. Warriors did a good job of setting screens to get Curry open. He hit his first three as Nurkic got caught in a bad spot as he came off of the screen.
Steph opens up the season from deep 🎯 pic.twitter.com/qudkeqY9eW
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 25, 2023
The Suns were able to play good defense after that and take the lead. They were up 17-12 with 7:04 left in the quarter. There was a 10-0 run by the Suns during this period. Devin Booker had 8 points during that time.
Devin Booker. And-one. Picking up right where he left off during his hot playoff streak. #PHXvsGSW (via @NBA)
pic.twitter.com/oj84I9da7Q— Burn City Suns Talk 🎙️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 25, 2023
The Suns were scoring in many different ways to start the game. They were running dribble hand-offs, pick and rolls, and letting Booker cook in isolation. Booker would score seven straight points to put the Suns up 24-12 with five minutes left in the quarter.
The Warriors would come right back with five points of their own to close the gap to 24-17 with 4:20 left in the quarter. The Warriors wold continue to play well as the benches came into the game. The Suns were not able to take care of the ball as they had seven turnovers in the quarter. Golden State was able to claw back into the game and tie it up at 28 heading into the second quarter.
The leading scorer in the first quarter was Devin Booker with 15.
Book is off to a HOT start ☄️ pic.twitter.com/OvDhu86eRt
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 25, 2023
The Warriors leading scorer in the quarter was Steph Curry with 8 points.
Second Quarter
The second quarter started with Kevin Durant as the only starter on the court. He was joined by Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe, Jordan Goodwin, and Drew Eubanks.
Eubanks picked up his third foul at the ten minute mark of the second quarter. His first two fouls came on illegal screens and then third foul was on a Chris Paul three point attempt.
The quarter started off slowly scoring wise for Phoenix. They only scored two points in first four minutes of the quarter. Warriors were up 35-30 with 7:40 left in the quarter.
The Suns came right back after the timeout with a strong run and took the lead. They were up 38-37 with 5:48 left in the first half.
Yuta knocks it down in transition 👌 pic.twitter.com/9LXsuJEbT9
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 25, 2023
The Suns would start to take control in the middle of the quarter after Booker came back into the game. Booker would continue to stay hot. Phoenix led 51-40 with 2:07 left in the quarter.
The Warriors would close the gap with back to back threes from Dario Saric and Klay Thompson. Then the Suns would extend it again behind the effort of Josh Okogie. Then to close out the quarter Kevin Durant would make a three pointer and get fouled by Andrew Wiggins. Durant made the free throw to complete the four point play.
Suns were up 61-46 to end the half.
Players of the Half
Devin Booker led all scorers with 21 on 8/10 shooting from the floor and 2/3 from three point range. Kevin Durant struggled from the field going 5/13 but had 13 points in the half.
The leading scorer for the Warrior was Stephen Curry with 10 points.
Team Stats At The Half
Phoenix shot 48% from the field and 33% from the three. Golden State really struggled on offense, shooting 31% from the field and 26% from three. The Suns shot 15 free throws compared to six for the Warriors.
Third Quarter
The Warriors came out strong to start the third quarter. They were able to close the lead to three with 8:19 left in the third quarter. Curry scored seven points during this 15-3 Warriors run. I personally blame Charles Barkley for this.
Charles Barkley says the Warriors are "cooked" at halftime and they start the second half on a classic 15-3 run .
— Damian Adams (@TheRealDealwDA) October 25, 2023
Steph Curry picked up his fourth foul with 7:20 left in the third quarter as he attempted to take a charge on Josh Okogie as he was driving to the rim after a steal.
Even with Curry out the Warriors continued to play well taking the lead and extending it.
Chris Paul 💪
📺 @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/PH5dnOeX4C
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 25, 2023
Golden State lead 73-66 with five minutes left in the third quarter. The Suns were able to cut the Warriors’ lead to three behind the play of Watanabe. He blocked Chris Paul’s shot on one end then came down and hit on three on the other.
Suns’ head coach Frank Vogel put Nassir Little into the game for the first time and he made an immediate impact playing defense and hit a three.
The Warriors were up 86-80 at the end of the third quarter.
