The Phoenix Suns made Steph Curry look human on Tuesday night. In a matchup of the NBA’s top two teams, Phoenix bottled up Curry, who didn’t put up an MVP-worthy line. The Warriors superstar finished with a season-low 12 points while connecting on just 4-of-21 from the field.
The Suns’ supreme defense played a huge role in their 104-96 win. In fact, they held Curry to the worst shooting night of his career (19 percent). Suns wing Mikal Bridges took the brunt of Curry responsibilities on defense and was up to the challenge. Curry also missed some wide open looks throughout the night.
Teams are going to pay heavy attention to Steph and build their defensive game plan around him. While Jordan Poole stepped up with 28 points, other important scorers like Andrew Wiggins (10 points) and Nemanja Bjelica (four points) were also held in check Tuesday. In all, the Warriors committed 22 turnovers to tie a season high and were held under 100 points for the first time in 21 games. There's a reason why the Suns have won 17 straight.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the team can learn from Tuesday night’s struggles and pointed ahead to Klay Thompson’s impending return.
“When teams are going to commit people to Steph the way that Phoenix did, then there's going to be openings," Kerr said. "There is going to be openings for Jordan [Poole], openings for Otto [Porter Jr.], guys who have knocked down a bunch of threes, and there will be openings for Klay Thompson. It's going to be fun."
Thompson hit a game-winning 3-pointer in Tuesday’s scrimmage with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Golden State is still hopeful the star shooting guard can return later this month. If/when he does, Thompson will surely transform the way opposing defenses guard the Warriors. The countdown is on for the beloved Splash Brother to help Steph Curry in the backcourt.
"A lot to look forward to," Kerr said. "I think the main thing we take from this is we gotta get better. We played the Western Conference champs, they were the better team. We get to play 'em again in a few days. Let's see if we can make some improvement and carry that improvement forward."
