SAN FRANCISCO — If Tuesday night’s tip-off for the 2023-24 NBA season were a portent of things to come, the Western Conference is going to be a treat for the fans.
After the Denver Nuggets began their title defense with a 119-107 taming of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns closed the double-header with a big road win over the Golden State Warriors at The Chase Center.
Devin Booker led the onslaught with a scalding 13-of-21 shooting from the field to finish with 32 points to go with his 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Kevin Durant scattered 18 markers for the new-look Suns who got 17 points from Josh Okogie plus 14 points and 14 rebounds from Josef Nurkic who was acquired from Portland in a blockbuster off-season trade that sent DeAndre Ayton to the Blazers.
Eric Gordon and Yuta Watanabe led the bench mob that accounted for 27 points.
“It was incredible. He started off just flaming hot, 15 points in the first quarter and just got us going. He just kept us there the whole night. We’re going to need that from him all season,” Durant said of Booker.
Steph Curry exploded for 27 points to pace the Warriors. Klay Thomspon had 15 while Chris Paul highlighted his Warriors debut with 14 points and 9 assists.
In an up-and-down game of runs Golden State ultimately couldn’t survive a cold shooting night where the Warriors converted just 35.6 percent of their field goals, 36 of 101.
And the fact the the Suns had 60 rebounds and 23 dimes didn’t help.
“I mean, I thought it was a little clunky offensively for much of the game but I felt like it was mainly the ball just wasn’t going in. We missed a lot of shots in the first half and we sort of let that affect our energy in the second quarter,” Warriors head coach told reporters.
Down 80-88 to start the fourth quarter, the Suns went on a blistering 11-0 run to take a precarious 3-point cushion. The Warriors held their ground and kept it close but a 5-0 run by Booker at the 4:22 mark mark gave the Suns the breathing to hold off Golden State.
The Warriors missed the services of Draymond Green while Phoenix played without the newly acquired Bradley Beal.
