Curry leads Warriors past Suns
by Paul Coro, USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. — There is paint-by-the-numbers art, and then there is the Suns’ paint-full-of-numbers defense that is anything but art.
On a mission to become a team that denies the paint with a tougher defense, the Suns defended as softly as a whisper in Saturday night’s 113-93 loss to Golden State at a sold-out Oracle Arena.
The Suns (16-32) held a double-digit lead in the third quarter for a second consecutive night but deteriorated faster and harder against the Warriors (30-17). Golden State barely needed a perimeter game, although it had that too with Stephen Curry’s return from an ankle sprain for six 3-pointers. The Warriors piled up 66 points in the paint and kept the Suns to 39 second-half points to run away with a win that made the Suns 2-10 in the second games of back-to-back sets this season.
It was the Suns’ sixth 20-point loss of the season. Golden State’s points in the paint tally was its season high and a season high for a Suns opponent.
The Suns led 58-48 early in the third quarter on a Goran Dragic 3-point play and after a 15-point first half by Michael Beasley, but Golden State rattled off 13 unanswered points. With Phoenix getting into a bonus situation early and becoming more passive defensively, the Warriors then turned hotter by scoring 17 points in a stretch of 3:10 to get their own double-digit lead.
Golden State outscored Phoenix 42-16 over a 12-minute second-half span.
Beasley led the Suns with 24 points on 10-of-23 shooting but Phoenix shot 40.7 percent overall. Curry scored 29 for Golden State, which shot 50.6 percent.
Paul Coro writes for The Arizona Republic, a Gannett Property.
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