Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports. Alen Smailagic (left) tries to defend Kelly Oubre.
So much of this Warriors season is about playing now to find out who can play later. If a season can be viewed as a tryout, consider this an 82-game exhibition, where games blur together, results are mostly shelved and moments matter more than the final score.
Bursts of promise are rewarded because those spurts can become something more given more time, given more talent that will surround whatever supporting cast remains next season.
So though Alen Smailagic did not even see five minutes of action in his NBA debut, it qualified as some of the biggest 4:46 of game time the Warriors have seen this season.
And how’s this for a moment: When the glimpse was over, when it was time for the big Serbian to return to a bench that will become familiar to him, Stephen Curry was the first in his ear, patting him on the back and dispensing wisdom that comes with 11 incredible seasons in the NBA. When Curry and Klay Thompson are around, there’s reason to believe Smailagic can become more than a curiosity.
Alen Smailagic fights for the bucket as Steph just smiles pic.twitter.com/eSHMXH0KwL
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) December 28, 2019
In his first time in a stateside professional game that wasn’t in the G-League, Smailagic did not take long to make his presence felt, cutting and putting home a layup with about four minutes left in the first. A minute and a half later, he grabbed a Ky Bowman miss and put it in off the glass. He was active early, giving snippets of why the Warriors believed in him enough to trade up in the second round to secure him in this year’s draft.
At just 19, the G League star looked as if he belonged, even muscling his way to an offensive rebound. It wasn’t all smooth — he was slow rotating that enabled a Cameron Johnson 3 late in the first — but it still represented a promising start for the teenager.
It was the type of debut that will make the Warriors — and their fans — want to see more. Which has been a rarity this season, but is becoming more of a reality after a terrific rally turned a 13-point deficit into a going-away victory — the Warriors’ (9-24) fourth straight — Friday at Chase Center. The final was 105-96 over the Suns in front of a sell-out crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center, one of the more impressive bursts of a season that has had too few.
D’Angelo Russell led the third-quarter charge, keying an 11-2 run that turned a 62-49 deficit into a 64-60 game in the third. Russell had eight points in the frame and another 12 in the fourth, finishing with a team-high 31.
Still, after Mikal Bridges put up six quick points on an and-one and dispiriting 3 to provide more cushion, the third quarter finished with the Suns up, 78-66. That’s when the Warriors went to work.
Golden State exploded in the fourth, scoring 39 points, ripping into a lead that quickly disappeared. They cut it to two, 86-84, with six minutes left in the game after a Russell trey. Devin Booker (34 points) responded with an easy jumper, but Willie Cauley-Stein was on the receiving end of an alley-oop in which he got fouled, too, shrinking the lead to 88-87 with 5:24 left. Alec Burks tied it up at 89, before Glen Robinson III’s follow-up dunk gave the Warriors their first lead since it was 23-22.
Damion Lee’s free throws, granted by a loose-ball foul on Aron Baynes, bumped the edge to four with 3:59 left, and Burks made another runner to extend it to six. As the Suns began to close, Draymond Green stepped back for the biggest shot of the game, draining a 3 that made it 102-95 with about two minutes left and all but ensured the victory. The Warriors’ offense was impressive late, but their defense was better; the Suns scored just 18 points in the fourth.
Russell was the leader on the night, but Burks was the leader at the end. The sixth man had 11 of his 13 points in the final stanza, including a gorgeous runner in which he turned the corner, appeared to be approaching a reverse layup but then switched to his left hand and an easy layup at the last second.
The Warriors had come out a step slow on defense and a half-foot off on offense. After a rough 18-point second quarter, they entered the half down 51-43, shooting just 45 percent from the field and 25 percent (3-of-12) from 3. The Suns, led by Booker’s 17 first-half points, were too much, shooting 52.5 percent from the field and assisting on 17 of 21 field goals.