Without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Kelly Oubre Jr., the Golden State Warriors lost 120-98 to the Phoenix Suns Thursday in Phoenix.
Facing a Suns team that entered the night winners of 15 of their last 18 games and with the second-best record in the Western Conference, the Warriors decided to rest Curry and Green on the second night of a back-to-back following Wednesday’s loss in Portland. Oubre was sidelined with a sprained wrist for the second straight game.
All considered, a win for the Warriors (19-18) was a long shot and the Suns (24-11) put them away early with a 34-23 lead after the first quarter.
But the Warriors after going down by 20 in the second quarter battled back to cut the deficit to single digits a handful of times in the second half — an encouraging sign for a young group that had to scrap against a talented Phoenix team.
Guard Jordan Poole, fresh off an impressive stretch in the G League bubble, set a career-high with 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting (5-for-10 from 3-point range) in 26 minutes.
“I liked (Poole’s) confidence. I liked the way he came off screens,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “I think he’s just really refined everything. When you play like he did tonight, then you definitely deserve another look. He earned more minutes.”
Rookie point guard Nico Mannion, who was called up along with Poole this week, started for Curry and finished with nine points and six assists. Andrew Wiggins had 16 points.
Center James Wiseman (11 points on 5-for-13 shooting, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block) was at times overmatched by Phoenix’s big man Deandre Ayton (11 points and 10 rebounds), and Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker scored 16 points.
This was the last game before the All-Star break, which comes at a welcomed time for the Warriors. They finish the first half of the schedule having lost three straight.
On Sunday, Curry will participate in the 3-point contest and All-Star game before the Warriors tip off the second half of the season in Los Angeles against the Clippers on March 11.
