Warriors’ big third quarter not enough in Opening Night loss to Durant’s
Suns
Golden State Warriors lose season opener to Phoenix Suns

>Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant (35) gestures past Golden State Warriors’
Chris Paul (3) and Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) in the
second quarter of the season opener at Chase Center in San Francisco,
Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Author
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: October 24, 2023 at 9:48 p.m. | UPDATED: October 25, 2023 at
10:49 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/10/24/warriors-big-third-quarter-not-enough-in-opening-night-loss-to-kevin-durants-phoenix-suns/

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr warned 24 hours in advance that the Warriors
wouldn’t perform up to their own expectations on Opening Night. He
wasn’t wrong. A Chris Paul-led 40-point third quarter couldn’t mask the
loose ends in the Warriors’ 108-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday
at Chase Center.

The game came down to its final seconds. A pair of late 3-pointers from
Suns guards Josh Okogie and Eric Gordon gave the Suns a five-point lead
that Steph Curry cut down to two with a 3 with 30 seconds remaining.
Devin Booker’s assist found Jusuf Nurkic for a layup to give Phoenix a
four-point lead with 10 seconds remaining sealed the deal.

“I thought it was a little clunky offensively, for most of the game,”
Kerr said. “But it felt like it was mainly the ball just wasn’t going in.”

Win or loss, some of Golden State’s issues rose to the surface in Game
1: Their lack of size up front was apparent as they lost the
second-chance point battle 26-20. There’s rust to shake off as evidenced
by the 35.6% shooting from the field and 23.3% on 3s. It took a half for
Paul to adjust to the unique rhythm it takes to create for Curry
off-ball, then organize the second unit’s offense on a dime.

“We didn’t have all but a few preseason games, and this is our first
regular season game,” Paul said. “Just figuring it out. We’re figuring
it out on the fly. I think with more games, we’ll get more and more
comfortable.”

There are conflicting messages coming from the team. While the Warriors
have projected a sense of urgency to get serious out the gate, they’re
also tempering expectations that the team is familiar enough to start
hot. Seven of their first eight games are on the road — and there has to
be some urgency to avoid a winless road trip reminiscent of the 0-8 away
record they had early last season.

The Warriors showed some signs that they won’t be as disconnected as
last year, particularly at the end of the second quarter and the entire
third quarter in which they outscored the Suns 40-19 to take a six-point
lead into the final frame.

With Curry in foul trouble for a lot of the game, Paul’s playmaking with
the second unit ignited a 14-4 second-quarter run to erase a 10-point
deficit. Paul, alongside Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II
and Dario Saric, kickstarted the Warriors’ energy.

Moody was active on both ends, collecting 11 points, a career-high three
steals, one block and three rebounds in 18 minutes. Payton was the go-to
defender on Booker and finished a team-high plus-15 with three steals.
Kuminga ran his strong preseason into a productive second half defending
Booker along with 12 points, challenging at the rim enough to get to the
line for six free throws.

Paul said he “felt free” to pull up for 3s and that he was excited to
see how his offensive game evolves this year. But the crowd most enjoyed
Paul pulling out some of his signature moves that burned the Warriors
for years as an opponent. In that third-quarter rally, Paul put back an
and-1 layup and drew a foul off Booker in the bonus, inspiring the crowd
to break into a “C-P-Three” chant.

Paul had 14 points and nine assists. Clunky as the offense was, Curry —
who had a team-high 27 points — saw everything smooth out.

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“Just continue to get more comfortable on who’s initiating,” Curry said.
“Where shots are coming from, sets we can run depending on who has the
ball. It’s very fluid right now, it’s such a smooth transition because
we both know how to play and there’s a lot of trust that whoever has the
ball’s going to make the right decisions.”

With Curry in foul trouble (he had five) and Draymond Green out all game
nursing an ankle sprain, Kerr tried a handful of closing lineups in
Tuesday’s game and said pre-game that closing lineups will be decided
situationally. That came into play with Kuminga and Payton taking over
Wiggins’ typical role in the closing lineup — he was bumped with just
one rebound (an offensive board) and a minus-22.

“He isn’t at his best yet, but that first game I think exactly three
weeks after practice started this is how it goes early in the season,”
Kerr said. “Guys aren’t in rhythm. Wiggs will be fine, it wasn’t his
night but he will get better as he goes.”

The Warriors head to Sacramento to play the Kings to start a three-game
road trip that moves to Houston (another Paul former team) and the New
Orleans Pelicans.