Warriors Send a Message With Massive Win Over Suns
If this game was played even a month ago, it’s safe to say the Warriors would have taken an L. But it wasn’t played a month ago, and the Warriors didn’t take an L. Instead, beating the Suns 122-116 last night, Golden State pulled off their best win of the season and, perhaps, their best win in almost 2 years.
Coming off another huge, dramatic win against the Utah Jazz on Monday night, the under-manned Warriors pulled themselves up by their bootstraps on the back end of a back-to-back and knocked out yet another Western Conference heavyweight, despite a poor shooting night from Steph Curry. In fact, if you would’ve told me that Steph Curry scored 21 points on 7-22 shooting (1-11 from 3-point range) against the second-seeded Suns, there’s no way I would have given the Warriors a shot at winning, which is what makes this win all the more impressive.
This win is about growth. All year, the Warriors have had enough championship DNA from Steph, Draymond and Kevon Looney to eke out some wins while the rest of the young, inexperienced Warriors roster found their footing. But now, as we’re getting down to crunch time, the young Warriors are looking young no more.
Steve Kerr said it best last night: “We’ve had the foundation for what you’re seeing now. We’ve had that all year. But we’ve needed the season for our young guys to grow. We wouldn’t have won this game a few months ago.”
No, they wouldn’t have—especially with the Suns coming off a day of rest and a big loss against the Lakers that had them prepared and hungry for a win. They effectively hounded Steph Curry all night and forced him into tough, contested shots, which made him uncomfortable on the offensive side of the floor. Instead of letting Steph’s poor shooting rattle the confidence of this thin Warriors squad, the rest of the team saw this as an opportunity and delivered resoundingly.
Perhaps no Warriors performance was more impressive than the night that Andrew Wiggins put together. Mr. Consistent himself went for 38 points on 17-24 shooting while also chipping in seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. With this performance, it was obvious that Wiggins embraced the role of the primary scoring threat as the Suns threw multiple defenders on Curry throughout the night. Wiggins looked like he believed that he could take over the game, which, I believe, has always been the key to unlocking his crazy high potential. He took good shots, threw down multiple alley-oops, drove hard to the rack and scored and slashed his way to an invaluable, clutch performance that showed why Golden State traded for him. I’ve always liked Wiggins, but his performance last night made me believe in him even more.
In addition to Wiggins’ stellar play, the Warriors overcame initial shooting woes and multiple defensive lapses to take the game over in the clutch. Despite getting open looks, the Warriors in the first half were 4-of-22 from deep, with Curry missing all five of his attempts. On the flip side, the Suns were shooting 57.4 percent from the field through three quarters. However, in the fourth, Golden State flipped the script.
The Warriors hit 3 huge three-pointers in the last six minutes of the game, including one from Jordan Poole (20 points in 20 minutes) and one from Juan Toscano-Anderson (pay the man, Mr. Lacob!) while holding Phoenix to 33.3% shooting in the final quarter to swing the momentum in the Dubs’ favor. But, in my opinion, the sequence of the night goes to Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins. Following the Jordan Poole three-pointer, Steph Curry guarded Devin Booker 1-on-1 and picked his pocket, which led to a spinning, 9-foot floater from Wiggins to put the Warriors up five with 1:22 remaining. This ultimately put the game out of reach for the Suns and iced a Warriors win.
Wins like this rightly have Warriors fans excited, as many were going so far as to compare this Warriors team to the We Believe Warriors in 2007. While this comparison seems fair, Draymond Green responded to the comparison in an emphatic and savage way: “We’re not no We Believe 2.0. We got Steph f***ing Curry.”
And you know what? He’s right. Steph’s play has been on another level this year. Without Steph, there’s no way on God’s green earth that the Warriors would be remotely near the position they’re in at this point in the season. In fact, there’s no way the Warriors would have won the game last night without the gravity that the mere threat of Steph’s nuclear basketball ability creates. The reason the Warriors have had so many open shots and scoring opportunities throughout the year and last night is directly due to the fear that Steph has put into the league, and that is something that will continue into the play-in game and through the rest of the playoffs.
This year’s Warriors team has been equally exciting to watch as they have been frustrating. They’ve won games they had no business winning and lost games they had no business losing. But now, as the most critical point of the season approaches, the Warriors are finding the identity and character they’ve possessed all along and are starting to put it all together. This team shows zero signs of surrender, and they’re no longer the hunted—they’re the hunters. The rest of the league better watch out.