Suns Edge Warriors for NBA Opening Night Win
PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns came away with a huge 108-104 over the Golden State Warriors to open their season 1-0.
Here's how the action panned out:
Starting Lineups
Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker
Grayson Allen
Josh Okogie
Kevin Durant
Jusuf Nurkic
Golden State Warriors
Steph Curry
Chris Paul
Klay Thompson
Andrew Wiggins
Kevon Looney
With no Draymond Green or Bradley Beal due to injury, we weren't quite able to see either side at full strength, though stars littered the floor throughout the night.
Quick Recap
The Suns jumped out to an early 13-5 lead, which to no surprise was spurred by Devin Booker. The run was capped by an and-one over Steph Curry, concluding a short 10-0 run to see Phoenix lead 17-12 at the midway timeout.
With their bench on the floor, Golden State eventually found their footing and took a 26-25 lead with former Suns point guard Chris Paul leading the charge.
The first quarter eventually ended knotted up at 28-28. Booker finished with 15 points and two rebounds in the first period of play.
Phoenix again came out of the gates hot, as the Suns started 6-13 shooting to begin the second quarter. The two sides kept it close until the late stages of the first half.
Jusuf Nurkic notched a double-double with three minutes left in the second quarter. Shortly after, the Suns took their first double-digit lead of the half, which was spurred by the effort of Josh Okogie on both ends of the floor.
The half was capped by a four-point play from Durant with 5.5 seconds left in second quarter.
To no surprise, Booker paced all scorers with 21 points, going 8/10 from the field.
After ending the half on a 25-10 run, the Suns carried a 61-46 lead into the break.
The Warriors eventually found their groove in the third quarter after Phoenix went cold. Curry and Klay Thompson captured their trademark Splash Bro's form and willed a Golden State 68-66 lead around the six-minute mark and paced the Suns the entire rest of the quarter.
The Warriors scored 40 points in the third to Phoenix's 19.
Durant woke up in the early portions of the fourth quarter and helped the Suns cut the lead to 88-86 before Yuta Watanabe capped a 8-0 run to tie things up, forcing a Warriors timeout.
Eric Gordon hit his first three of the night to push the Suns ahead shortly after the timeout.
Booker checked into the game with 7:24 left, and as expected, the two sides went back and forth the rest of the way.
With under four to play, Booker had back-to-back turnovers (Phoenix's 17th and 18th of the night) and allowed the Warriors to narrow the lead to 100-99.
Jonathan Kuminga hit the free throw line with 1:32 left but missed both attempts.
On the ensuing possession, Booker - with the shot clocking winding down - found Okogie in the corner for a clutch three to push Phoenix ahead 103-99.
After Gordon/Curry each knocked down three-point shots, a beautiful pick-and-roll from Booker to Nurkic gave the Suns a four-point lead with ten seconds left, forcing Steve Kerr to take a timeout.
The Warriors were unable to knock down any last-second three-point desperation attempts, and Okogie came down with the final rebound to wind the clock out.
