Undermanned Warriors put up fight but can't get past Devin Booker, Suns in Phoenix

PHOENIX – On Saturday morning, the Breachers packed into a car for the 390-mile stretch of open road from El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix, buoyed by tickets and a hope to watch one of the greats. Mother Daniela planned this as a surprise for her boys Gregorio and Mauro, and they tugged on Stephen Curry jerseys and sketched out a pair of signs, one simply reading “We Drove 390 Miles Steph.” And 10-year-old Gregorio even, missed a youth-basketball playoff game for this chance to see Curry. 

But when they pulled into Phoenix a few hours before the Suns’ 131-122 win over Golden State and Daniela checked her phone, she saw that Curry was scratched for rest purposes. 

“I’m like, ‘Whaaaat?’ So we make all this time … ” Daniela recalled, trailing off wistfully.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr had tried to warn fans buying tickets to the Steph Show, a couple weeks ago, that these Warriors are old and hurt and therefore folks should check Golden State’s schedule before committing to back-to-backs. But the masses across the nation surely are not clued into Kerr’s every preseason word. And this Game 3, in Phoenix, was a particularly unique circumstance: not only was Curry out, but so was Draymond Green (rest), Al Horford (rest), and Brandin Podziemski (rest for a sore back), and, of course, the injured or ailing Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis. 

A total, in summation, of $191 million in roster commitments not on the floor for Golden State, in just Game 3 of 82. And $29 million in roster commitments – and three two-way contracts – actually available. Mauro watched, pregame, with sadness in his eyes, so desperate for a recognizable autograph of any kind that he asked this Chronicle reporter for one. 

These were the Santa Cruz-slash Summer League Warriors come to life at the highest level, with rookie Yaxel Lendeborg at the center of a mix of rotation hopefuls and back-of-the-roster youngsters engrossed in a strange early-season audition Saturday. It was a free swing, as Kerr termed it to his staff. A 3-1 count. Someone had to take a rip.

Suns 131, Warriors 122

FGFTRebGOLDEN STATEMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTSLendeborg36:239-192-35-95026Santos23:161-44-82-4347Ike26:235-132-25-102412Richard31:204-90-00-01311B.Williams24:055-108-111-35120Melton26:478-135-51-55325Niang23:122-90-02-4224Payton II17:191-30-01-1002Cryer14:041-50-00-1133Bassey12:434-42-32-70110Leons4:261-20-00-0012Totals240:0041-9123-3219-442422122

Percentages: FG .451, FT .719.

3-Point Goals: 17-39, .436 (Lendeborg 6-11, Melton 4-8, Richard 3-6, B.Williams 2-3, Santos 1-2, Cryer 1-3, Payton II 0-1, Niang 0-5).

Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 1.

Blocked Shots: 4 (Bassey 2, Lendeborg, Richard).

Turnovers: 16 (Melton 3, Niang 3, B.Williams 2, Lendeborg 2, Richard 2, Bassey, Cryer, Ike, Santos).

Steals: 9 (Melton 3, B.Williams 2, Richard 2, Ike, Leons).

Technical Fouls: coach Steve Kerr, 6:07 fourth.

FGFTRebPHOENIXMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTSBridges33:156-112-22-73316Brooks33:456-122-21-25415Maluach27:362-34-61-9349Booker36:2917-257-80-77143J.Green26:265-101-10-21212Gillespie27:534-71-31-49311Goodwin20:204-80-02-2429Kennard18:184-60-01-41011Dunn12:472-30-01-5025Reath3:100-10-00-0010Totals240:0050-8617-229-423322131

Percentages: FG .581, FT .773.

3-Point Goals: 14-37, .378 (Kennard 3-5, Bridges 2-5, Gillespie 2-5, Booker 2-7, Dunn 1-1, Maluach 1-2, Brooks 1-3, J.Green 1-3, Goodwin 1-5, Reath 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: 2.

Blocked Shots: 5 (Dunn 2, Maluach 2, Booker).

Turnovers: 15 (Booker 4, J.Green 3, Brooks 2, Gillespie 2, Maluach 2, Dunn, Goodwin).

Steals: 9 (Goodwin 3, Gillespie 2, Bridges, Dunn, Kennard, Maluach).

Technical Fouls: None.

Golden State25293830-122Phoenix22354529-131

A: 17,071 (18,422).

And guess what? They were pretty fun. Perhaps the Gregorios did glean some enjoyment, after all. But fun played no ultimate match for sheer talent, as Suns star Devin Booker elevated time and again over unequipped Warriors perimeter defenders in a surgical 17-for-25, 43-point night.

Late in the third quarter, Booker elevated from the left wing and drilled a 3-pointer through the contact of Warriors two-way guard LJ Cryer. Booker glanced up from the floor. Cryer trudged away, slowly, as if resigned to his and Golden State’s fate. That kind of night.

Golden State was back in this building in Phoenix for the first time since April, when the Suns bounced the Warriors from the play-in and Kerr exchanged the postgame hug with Curry and Green that felt potentially final. “Just kidding,” Kerr cracked pregame Saturday. But that hug, quietly, was indeed significant of a shift for Golden State. Kerr, in returning as the Warriors’ coach and trying to fix their internal process, liked the vibe he noticed from last year’s Suns team, led by first-year head coach Jordan Ott.

“It felt different playing against them, last year,” Kerr told the Chronicle last Sunday night. “And they all deserve credit. Players, coaches. But the point is, the collaboration, the effort they put into making changes on the roster, philosophically, whatever it was. It was tangible. You could feel that. And I’m just giving you an example of that – coming off a bad year, like we are this year.”

Such a shift has yet to visibly take place in Golden State, after a 37-45 season last year. They lost fight in the third quarter of an Opening Night blowout to Los Angeles. They allowed a 17-0 late-game run to lose Friday night’s game against Memphis in stunning fashion. But they matched punches blow-for-blow for the better part of four quarters with a deeper and more talented Phoenix team, as a host of Warriors made their cases for larger roles when the full troupe’s back. 

Rookie Lendeborg put together his best half of the season before the break, hitting three threes and showcasing improved defensive intensity with a couple deflections. Reserve center Charles Bassey – after missing the Warriors’ first two games with knee tendinitis – injected life in a third-quarter flurry: blocking a shot by Suns guard Jalen Green, finishing an and-one tip, dropping in a couple pretty floaters. Guard De’Anthony Melton, too, finally caught fire with 12 third-quarter points, after visibly struggling to find an offensive rhythm in the Warriors’ opening two games. 

“He hasn’t found his offense yet so far in the first few weeks,” Kerr said Friday night. “But it’ll come.”

Golden State outlasted an early-third-quarter Phoenix run to push the Suns’ lead to 10, and kept itself within striking distance in the fourth, a left-corner Will Richard three slicing the Suns’ advantage at seven with three minutes to play. But the Warriors needed to close perfectly this evening to give themselves a puncher’s chance, and too often were a step slow rotating to Phoenix’s shooters, and a late midrange bucket from Booker dropped the nail on an 0-3 start.

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This article originally published at Undermanned Warriors put up fight but can’t get past Devin Booker, Suns in Phoenix.