SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr warned that the Warriors wouldn’t perform on Opening Night up to their own expectations. If a few easy layups and bunnies go through, the Warriors might’ve looked sharper and made their 108-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night at Chase Center more of a contest.
They found themselves down 15 at the end of the first half with cold scoring from the starers. Chris Paul didn’t have the scoring touch in his Suns revenge game, going 0-for-6, Klay Thompson went 3-for-10 and Andrew Wiggins was missing easy looks constantly, going 2-for-8 from the field in the first half.
In a reversal from last season, the second unit managed to get them back in the game. Paul, alongside Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II and Dario Saric, infused the Warriors’ energy. Moody was active on both ends, collecting 11 points, three steals, one block and three rebounds in 12 first-half minutes, leading the Warriors on a 14-4 run to close the first quarter tied 28-28.
Curry and Thompson found their strokes in the third quarter, both hitting a pair of 3-pointers to get the second half started. But Curry drew his fourth foul and Paul found himself back with the second unit to lead a Warriors burst. He scored his first bucket on a jumper with just under seven minutes in the third quarter and gained steam from there. He took advantage of the Warriors’ being in the bonus, drawing an and-1 bucket to give the Warriors their first lead of the half and drew a foul for free throws, prompting Chase Center into “CP3” chants.
The Warriors outscored the Suns 40-19 to take a six-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Curry incurred his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, forcing Paul back into the game as Kevin Durant went to work to even the score. Curry checked back in with just over five minutes remaining in the game along with the rest of the starters, though Kuminga was in for Paul.
With Wiggins struggling on both ends, Kuminga finished the game alongside Curry, Thompson, Paul and Looney to defend Devin Booker. The game came down to a few makes and misses: Josh Okogie and Eric Gordon’s 3-pointers late gave the Suns a five-point lead Curry cut down to two with a 3. Payton came back into the game to defend Booker with the final 20 seconds remaining, but Booker found Nurkic for a layup to give Phoenix a four-point lead with 10 seconds remaining to seal the deal.
Curry finished with a team-high 27 points (8-of-20, 4-14) in 30 minutes. Paul had 14 points and nine assists and Looney had 11 rebounds.