The Warriors were without Stephen Curry (rest) and Draymond Green (ankle) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (wrist), so it was a night for the younger Dubs to feature their skills in Thursday’s matchup against the scorching-hot Phoenix Suns. Despite a career-high 26 points from Jordan Poole, a double-double from James Wiseman and 16 points from Andrew Wiggins, the squad dropped this game 120-98 for their third loss in a row to end the first half of the NBA season.
The Dubs were unable to hold back the Suns in the end of the first quarter as they closed the frame out on a 10-0 run for a 34-23 lead. But the ultimate trouble came as Phoenix kept that momentum up through the second quarter and expanded said run, making it 26-8 and expanding that lead up to 20 points. It was a deficit the Dubs were unable to work their way out of.
TEAM LEADERS
Though down in the second, Poole fueled a furious comeback in the final four minutes of the second frame as he had himself a 13-point outburst. Whether it was with layups, splashes, and drawing an and-1, he was finding a variety of ways to get his buckets.
It was nice sight to see in his return to the NBA after spending the last few weeks with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League’s Orlando bubble, but came as no surprise to keen members of Dub Nation. Poole was the “Sea Dubs’” leading scorer with 22.4 points across his 11 games, including 37- and 32-point outings.
And speaking of Warriors returning from the G League, Nico Mannion not only came back to Golden State from Santa Cruz for this game, but also drew his first career start in his home state. The rookie Dub played well Thursday as he posted a fully-loaded stat line with nine points, four rebounds and six assists. Two of those dishes, as well as his lone steal of the contest, came in one sequence where he displayed some heads-up basketball: he perfectly timed an alley-oop with James Wiseman, stole an errant Suns pass after it was inbounded, then found a cutting Juan Toscano-Anderson for another bucket.
Toscano-Anderson also finished with another all-around solid outing as his energy on both sides of the ball led him to finish with nine points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
The Warriors do not play again until Mar. 11 when they head to Los Angeles to play the Clippers. However, there is still basketball to be watched! Stephen Curry is headed to Atlanta where he will play in his seventh All-Star Game with Team LeBron, as well as participate in his sixth 3-Point Contest (3:30 p.m., TNT).
More Notables ...
- Golden State used its ninth unique starting lineup of the season, including multiple rookie starters for the first time since March 10, 2020 vs. the Clippers.
- The Warriors fell to 0-7 when scoring fewer than 100 points this season.
- Damion Lee made his first start of the season, scoring seven points in 23 minutes.