Steve Kerr wanted defense. He got that on Wednesday night. The problem was a bevy of head-scratching plays on offense.
It was a sloppy, raucous game at a Chase Center that sounded a fair bit less sanitized than it’s often seemed in past years. In the end, the Warriors’ mishaps overwhelmed the positives, and some veteran Chris Paul plays sent them to a 107-103 loss.
Better defense
The only reason this game was close was because Golden State played the brand of defense that made them a titan in the first half of the season.
There were some particularly egregious defensive breakdowns leading to wide open shots for the Suns at points, but these teams remained in lock step because of the Warriors persistence on defense, even if it wasn’t always perfect.
Passing lanes were cut down, 50-50 balls were tightly contested, and there was some veteran pickpocketing on display from the likes of Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green.
It was apropos of a night with The Glove in attendance. His son, Gary Payton Jr., played his sparkplug role well before departing with a lower body injury in the early minutes of the fourth quarter and later returning.
Golden State held the Suns to 41.3 percent shooting and 7-of-28 from three, with Devin Booker matching Klay Thompson’s horrific 5-of-21 field goal line thanks to challenges from the Warriors on the perimeter.
It was a defensive performance deserving of a win but snakebitten by that horrendous shooting from Thompson and some even more egregious turnovers and bricked layups.
Chase Center comes alive, sparked by Draymond and Poole
Describing a “playoff atmosphere” in a regular season game is always a bit misleading given the lack of stakes, but the Warriors certainly got close to that on Wednesday.
The volume was palpable throughout, but there was a particular stretch sparked by Draymond Green that sent a rapturous din around the arena.
Green, at his peak, is a league-best instigator. He drains the life from opponents and converts that into energy for the Warriors.
In the middle of the third quarter, Green snagged an offense rebound over three Suns players after a rare Andre Wiggins suffered a rare double toilet bowl rim out.
This was just moments after Green and Jae Crowder had gotten into a tiff that resulted in double technical fouls. When Green came down with the rebound, he launched the ball off Crowder to retain possession, then started clapping to hype up the crowd.
Moments later, Jordan Poole hit a three. Deandre Ayton promptly traveled, and Klay Thompson notched a layup to put the Warriors up seven.
The lead was exchanged about a dozen times after that point, but it was that effort from Green and scoring from Poole that typified the highs the Warriors found.
Green, who admittedly struggled in recent games, was stellar, aside from the last-minute turnover caused by a brilliant defensive read from Chris Paul.
He had a vintage line, with 9 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and a couple of steals.
A fair deal of those assists went to Poole, who had perhaps his most well-rounded game of the season.
He lit the spark from the get-go with an electric, 15-point first quarter. He kept that current alive deep into the game and facilitated and rebounded with far more vigor than you’d normally expect.
It was a Steph Curry-esque performance. He had 38 points (11-of-22, 7-of-15 from three, 9-of-10 from the line), 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He is the only other player in Warriors history to have 30-plus points, 7-plus rebounds, 7-plus assists and 7-plus threes in a game.
In the end, though, the savviness of Chris Paul, who came through with some clutch, late scores, and forced a crucial turnover from Green, was the difference against a Warriors team that turned the ball over 21 times (and a season-high 14 in the first half) and missed an unfathomable seven layups.
The Suns are now 44-0 when leading after the third quarter this season, and Paul showed why. He had ice in his veins and a cool head, while Green traveled and Poole chucked a bizarre half-courter to end it.
Sad, bad Klay, and a glimmer of Wiggins
It is brutal to watch Klay Thompson struggle like he is. You can see him getting actively frustrated in games like these, where he pulls up and just doesn’t have the legs or the familiarity with his body to know when to release.
But in his mind, he’s still Klay Thompson. That’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, the fact that he’s still willing to keep chucking means that he still has the belief that his shot will fall consistently at some point.
But when he doesn’t, you just have a guy who misses a heck of a lot of shots and doesn’t have the same sort of lateral quickness on defense that evens those misses out.
Thompson had a woeful 13-point night on 5-of-21 shooting and 1-of-10 from three. As mentioned, Booker had the same line shooting on the Phoenix side, but at least made up for some of that by getting to the line 12 times. Thompson had just a couple free throws.
What might have helped was a more aggressive night from Andrew Wiggins, but as we all know, those are few and far between.
It’s like Wiggins has this persistent amnesia wherein he forgets who he is and what he’s capable of. It’s not just month-to-month or game-to-game, but moment-to-moment.
He’ll go in modes where he’s hyper aggressive, pushing the pace and driving into the lane in ways that highlight his athleticism. And then he’ll disappear.
There was a glimmer of aggressive Wiggins in the second half, and then, just as quick as he emerged, he disappeared.
To be fair to him, he played some outstanding defense and had 19 points (6-of-16 shooting, 2-of-6 from three) with 8 rebounds, but his tendency to go quiet shows up all too often.