Nothing cures a one-game hangover quite like a compliant opponent.
Taking full advantage of the mostly indifferent Phoenix Suns, without star forward Kevin Durant, the Warriors rolled to a 133-95 rout Tuesday night and remain in sixth place in the gridlocked Western Conference playoff race.
Golden State (47-32) still is looking up at the No. 4-seeded Los Angeles Clippers (47-32), who beat the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and hold the tiebreaker over the Warriors. The Denver Nuggets, who fired coach Michael Malone on Tuesday, are the No. 5 seed also with a 47-32 record.
The Memphis Grizzlies, also 47-32, are the No. 7 seed, as the Warriors hold the tiebreaker. The Minnesota Timberwolves (46-33) lost on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks and trail Golden State by one game.
Seven Warriors scored in double figures, led by 25 points from Stephen Curry and 22 from Brandin Podziemski. Golden State took the lead three minutes into the game and never were threatened over the final 45 minutes.
So decisive was this one that Jimmy Butler III and Draymond Green played each played only 20 minutes.
The Suns (35-44) lost their seventh consecutive game and look, for all intents and purposes, like a team playing only by request of the schedule.
Here are three takeaways as Golden State follows a frustrating loss to Houston with a demolition of the Suns in the desert:
Steph bounces back
After the results of Curry’s last game, scoring three points on 1-of-10 shooting in a loss to the Rockets, the Suns surely knew a storm was coming.
And they got it. All of it.
Freed from the 7-foot wingspan and grappling defense of Houston’s Amen Thompson, Curry blistered anyone the Suns threw at him. He wasted no time, making his first three shots – two triples and a free throw – in 71 seconds and dropping 13 points in nine first-quarter minutes. Golden State’s 37-24 lead after one quarter set a tone that never wavered.
Curry’s 25 points came on 9-of-17 shooting from the field, including 3-of-9 from distance. He added nine rebounds and six assists, finishing plus-31 over 25 minutes.
Perhaps best of all for Golden State was that Curry took a seat on the bench with 3:30 left in the third quarter and sat for the rest of the game.
He had done enough to put a bounce-back game in the books, to the delight of the Warriors.
Steph’s running mate keeps cooking
No member of the Warriors, decorated vets or surging youths, has delivered a more pleasantly surprising stretch of offense than Podziemski. He brought it again on this night.
The second-year NBA guard was productive and efficient, scoring his 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 beyond the arc. This was his fourth consecutive game with at least four triples.
Podziemski, over his previous five games, averaged 21.6 points, with 55.6-percent shooting from the field, including an astonishing 57.5 percent from distance. He also averaged 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists in the five games.
Podziemski is the seventh player to share the backcourt with Curry this season, following Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, De’Anthony Melton, Lindy Waters III, Buddy Hield and Dennis Schröeder. Golden State was 0-3 with the Curry-Podziemski backcourt before Butler arrived, but has since won 15 of 16 together.
Crashing the glass
After losing the rebounding battle in each of their last two games, the Warriors recovered to post their most decisive advantage on the glass in three weeks.
Golden State outrebounded Phoenix 57-41, with Gui Santos grabbing nine rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench, joining Curry as a co-leader in that category. Center Trayce Jackson-Davis, getting playing time in the absence of Quinten Post (illness), grabbed eight rebounds in 19 minutes.
The last time the Warriors dominated the glass to such an extent was on March 18 in Milwaukee, where they managed a 52-34 advantage in a 104-93 victory over the Bucks.
And, yes, rebounds tend to come easier when the opponent is reluctant to do the dirty work that comes with going to war in the paint.
