Banged up Golden State beat Phoenix with eight players
Road win halts eight-game skid for Warriors.
Sunday 1 March 2020 10:19, UK
Eight months ago, the Golden State Warriors were trying to force Game 7 in the NBA Finals to seal their fate as arguably the greatest dynasty in NBA history.
Now the Warriors are just trying to keep healthy bodies on the court.
With Klay Thompson out for the year and Stephen Curry's return delayed, the banged-up Warriors were even more short-handed than usual in an unlikely win against the Suns on Saturday.
Coach Steve Kerr said before the game that Draymond Green wouldn't play because of left knee soreness, which meant the Warriors had just eight available players.
Nevertheless, Eric Paschall scored 25 points, Damion Lee added 20 and the Golden State Warriors snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 115-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.
"The joy in that locker room right now, the relief, everybody's smiling and happy and excited," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "Our team's played hard all year and competed, but at times has been out-manned. So every win becomes sweeter."
Curry had hoped to play on Sunday, but instead will practice with the G-League Santa Cruz Warriors on Monday. The team said Curry is still expected to play in March.
The two-time MVP has played just four games this season after breaking his left hand in a game on Oct. 30.
Golden State trailed for most of the game but went on a 16-0 late in the third quarter and had a 92-81 lead going into the fourth quarter. Seven Warriors had at least 10 points, including Andrew Wiggins, who added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Mychal Mulder, who was playing in just his second NBA game, had 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Former Suns player Dragan Bender had a season-high 13 points and eight rebounds.
"I just loved the way we competed," Kerr said. "We had eight guys and all eight really contributed, brought energy, brought enthusiasm. I thought we had a lot of really good individual performances, but more than anything, everybody competed for each other, defended like crazy. Really fun night. Huge relief."
It was the second head-scratching loss for the Suns in two days. Phoenix is still in the hunt for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference, but has dropped consecutive games to lowly Detroit and Golden State.
Suns coach Monty Williams blamed himself, saying he didn't have the team ready to play.
"Two nights in a row, we have been outplayed from an effort standpoint," Williams said. "We certainly didn't share the ball. Defensively, we don't guard anybody. We haven't guarded anybody the last two nights."
Devin Booker led the Suns with 21 points. Deandre Ayton had 20 points and nine rebounds.
Booker made a 33-foot three-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Suns a 65-61 halftime lead.
