SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors are still searching for their first winning streak since the middle of November.
With a chance for a third straight victory to build momentum heading into the trade deadline, Steph Curry put up a dud and the Suns shot the Warriors out of their own building.
Curry scored just six points in the first three quarters as the Suns ran up a 20-point lead. A miniature fourth-quarter flurry gave him 14 points overall, but by then the Suns were cruising to a 130-105 victory.
Beyond Curry’s quiet night, the game was decided in the paint. Phoenix got whatever it wanted in the lane, while the Warriors’ season-long struggles at finishing persisted. The Suns outscored the Warriors in the paint 56 to 36 and shot 16-for-17 at the rim compared to Golden State’s 9-for-22 at the cup.
The Suns shot 48.7% from deep, making the Warriors (24-24) defense look silly. Devin Booker dropped a game-high 31 points and former Warriors Kevin Durant provided 19. The Warriors allowed at least 30 points in every quarter.
“We were hoping to follow up the effort from the other night, but it wasn’t there for us,” head coach Steve Kerr said postgame.
Quinten Post was more effective in his second career start than he was against the Thunder. Making smart, quick reads out of the short roll, Post racked up two early assists and nearly had two more. He also hit a pair of above-the-break 3s, stretching Phoenix’s defense in the two-man game with Curry.
Yet Post doesn’t provide any rim protection, and the Suns happily went at him. They played him off the court, ending his night at 13 minutes before garbage time.
Curry didn’t hunt shots early, instead getting his teammates involved. He didn’t even take a shot until 5:14 left in the opening period and finished 5-for-14.
“We weren’t finding ways to get him the ball,” Kerr said. “I’ve got to do a better job of that.”
With Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green still sidelined, the Warriors’ rotation has settled at about 10, with Kyle Anderson getting spot minutes as the 11th man in certain matchups. Trayce Jackson-Davis is on the outside looking in, ceding to Post and Kevon Looney.
The Warriors played 10 in a first quarter in which the lead changed eight times.
Then the Suns took control.
With rim protection defensively and by targeting Post in pick-and-rolls, Phoenix got stops and ran in transition. Kerr called two timeouts less than a minute apart to try to halt their momentum. But a 14-2 Phoenix run with Kevin Durant on the bench put the Suns up 13 early in the second.
Even as Buddy Hield sank his third 3-pointer and Anderson provided nice minutes off the bench, the Warriors couldn’t get stops. Phoenix assisted on 20 of its first 24 buckets, sharing the ball and generating driving lanes. The Warriors started to slump their shoulders, Kerr said.
The Suns shot 54% from the field in the second, heading into halftime with a 62-51 lead. Steph Curry scored just two points in the first half, going 1-for-5. His only bucket came five minutes into the second frame.
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Curry took three straight shots to open the second half, converting on a pair of stepback midrange jumpers, but Phoenix expanded its lead to 18.
It was never close from there. Even when the Warriors clawed back within 10, the deficit felt like a canyon. The Warriors slowed Durant but the Suns still rolled, stretching their lead up to 22.
Golden State tried a zone defense, but Phoenix ate it alive with ball movement. Three straight 3s from Durant gave the Suns 98 points heading into the fourth quarter. They shot 50% from deep through three quarters.
The Warriors entered 1-20 when trailing after three quarters, and they weren’t going to erase a 19-point hole to buck that trend.
Curry hit his first 3 of the night a minute into the final frame, shaking his hand as the ball ripped pylon. He knew it was far too little and much too late.
