NBA News Wire
Suns 122, Warriors 109
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
PHOENIX — Guard Goran Dragic continued his offensive eruptions with a career-high 34 points, including six 3-pointers, and forward Gerald Green added 25 points as the Phoenix Suns used an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to put away the Golden State Warriors 122-109 on Saturday night.
Dragic made 10 of 13 shots from the field, including 6 of 7 3-pointers, and added 10 assists and four steals. Snubbed for the Western Conference All-Star team, Dragic now has 20 or more points in seven straight games.
Forward P.J. Tucker added 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Suns (30-20), who moved past the Warriors (30-21) into second place in the Pacific Division and sixth overall in the Western Conference.
Guard Stephen Curry had 28 points and nine assist for the Warriors, who played without starting center Andre Bogut (shoulder) and forward David Lee (shoulder, hip). Forward Harrison Barnes added 23 points for the Warriors, who were 9-2 on the road since losing to the Suns in Phoenix on Dec. 15.
The Warriors pulled within two points at 102-100 on a tip-in by center Jermaine O’Neal with 7:55 left. But Dragic followed a Tucker hook shot with a 3-pointer, then followed a Tucker free throw with a 25-footer with 4:23 left to make it 111-102 Suns.
Golden State never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Dragic had 10 points in the first quarter and put the Suns up 16-8 with a step-back 17-footer with 6:31 to go. They still led 27-20 after a dunk by Green off a Dragic feed with 2:42 left, but the Warriors ended the quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the Phoenix lead to one.
With the score tied at 39, the Suns reeled off an 11-2 run with a 3-pointer by Dragic, boosting the Phoenix lead to 50-41 with 5:07 left.
But Curry, who had 10 points in the quarter, followed a 19-foot jumper with two 3-pointers, the second one cutting the Phoenix lead to 57-54 with 2:00 left. Green had Phoenix’s final six points of the quarter and his free throw with three-tenths of a second left gave the Suns a 63-59 lead at the half.
The Suns led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but the Warriors chopped the lead to five at 95-90 on two free throws for guard Jordan Crawford with 1.6 seconds left.
NOTES: The Suns have more home wins against Golden State (86) than any other team. … The Warriors played without two starters, C Andrew Bogut (left shoulder) and F David Lee (left shoulder, left hip), who combine to average 27.1 points and 20.4 rebounds per game. … Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said he did not sense any concern from his team after losing two straight, including the club’s fourth loss by double digits, in Houston on Wednesday. “All of a sudden everybody else thinks you’re going to win every game,” he said. “It’s the NBA. All these teams have a tendency to lose a few. We had a hard practice (Friday) and it was a good practice. I don’t think our guys think that much about it.” … Suns F Markieff Morris came in with 12 consecutive double-figure scoring efforts, the longest run of his career. He is a big reason the Suns rank fifth in bench scoring (37.7 ppg).
