Dragic, Lopez lift Suns over undermanned Warriors

By Mike Tulumello, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday January 24, 2010 12:54AM

PHOENIX (NBA.com exclusive) -- This was the week the schedule-maker finally looked kindly on the slumping Suns.

After all those November road games, all those games against elite teams in December, the Suns got a chance to take advantage of a couple of undermanned teams.

They did so Saturday night, pulling away late from the lowly, injury battered Warriors.

The final was 112-103, though the Suns led only 96-95 with 4:00 left.

"We'll take 'em any way we can get 'em," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said.

"Obviously, it was a struggle. We found a way to gut it out.

"That's the way it's going to be until we get our stroke back."

The victory followed up their win Wednesday against the Nets, who could be on their way to the worst record in NBA history.

So they've now won two of three games after losing five of their previous six and nine of 15.

They lost at home Friday to the Bulls; they were playing their first back-to-back set at home in nearly five years.

The Suns got a career high 20 points from backup point guard Goran Dragic and a solid 16 points and nine boards from Robin Lopez, their new starting center. Steve Nash has 23 points and six assists, but six turnovers.

Gentry liked a backup ground headed by Dragic and Channing Frye, 3-for-5 on 3-pointers so much that he didn't re-insert Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire into the game until only 3:59 remained in the tight game.

"I contemplated" leaving the backups in the game," Gentry said, adding that his assistant coaches "thought that group should have finished the game."

Dragic stayed in the game, though, playing alongside Nash.

And with the Suns leading 98-95, he made a spectacular block from behind on a fast-break layup try by C.J. Watson.

Frye hit a short jumper at the other end, and Warriors coach Don Nelson drew a technical foul for protesting the non-call on Dragic, who had made body contact with Watson on the fast break.

The Suns were up 101-95 with 3:00 left and managed to protect the lead.

The Warriors were reduced to playing with only nine healthy bodies,

"Three of them are centers," Nelson pointed out.

Not to mention that three of them are developmental-league signees (two of them on 10-day contracts).

One of those 10-day, NBA D-leaguers was Anthony Tolliver who often went against, and outplayed, Suns Stoudemire.

Tolliver had 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting and 11 rebounds; Stoudemire had 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting and just five rebounds.

The Warriors (13-19) were led by Corey Maggette with 27 points and Stephen Curry with 25.

The latest wounded Warrior is Monta Ellis, who "really has been carrying our team," Nelson said.

Ellis suffered an ankle injury Friday night vs. the Nets. Though he missed the Suns' game, the Warriors are hoping he won't miss much more time.

With so few options, Nelson said, "It's difficult to win. It's not difficult to do what you do: run good sets, coach a good game. But the caliber of players isn't as good as you'd like it do be."

Against the Suns, "I was very pleased with the way we played and how hard we played."

The Suns moved to 26-19, good enough for the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference. They sit just one game behind the No. 4 Trail Blazers (27-18).

On the downside, the Suns learned before the game that they'll be without Leandro Barbosa, their struggling backup guard, for a month or so.

Barbosa will undergo surgery to remove a cyst from the wrist on his shooting hand.

The cyst had been drained, but it returned, so Barbosa and the Suns decided to have it removed, general manager Steve Kerr said.

Barbosa, once one of the NBA's most reliable bench scorers, has averaged a modest 10.6 points on 42 percent shooting (just 33 percent on 3-pointers).

Over the previous four seasons, he'd averaged 15.4 points on 47 percent shooting, including 41 percent on 3-pointers. In 2006-07, he was the runaway winner of the NBA's sixth man award.

This season, he's already missed 15 games with ankle and wrist problems.

"The wrist was affecting his shooting because of the pain, so I think he'll be really relieved with the pain gone," Kerr said.

"He's been trying to shoot through it, and you can see it's really swollen.

"He hasn't had the flexibility to get the ball in the right position. That's one of the reasons he's struggling.

"It's important for us to get this right for his peace of mind. I'm confident once he's back to normal, you'll see the same L.B. that we've all seen."

Jason Richardson returned to his starting role -- Barbosa had been starting recently in an attempt to get his game going -- while point guard Dragic and small forward Jared Dudley will get more time at off guard.

• Warriors: Azubuike, Bell, Claxton, Randolph, Wright
• Suns: Griffin

• Warriors: Nelson
• Suns: --

• Lead Changes: 10
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
• Officials: #61 Courtney Kirkland, #13 Monty McCutchen, #36 David Jones, #68 Marat Kogut
• Attendance: 17792
• Duration: 2:17