Suns at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors have everything pretty much wrapped up heading
into the postseason, but they have yet to take their foot off the gas.
The Warriors will try to put Phoenix out of its misery when they host
the Suns on Thursday.
The Suns are still mathematically alive in the race for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference but have dropped four in a row to fall well off the pace and play five of their final seven games on the road. Golden State wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and the best record in franchise history over the weekend but still had plenty of fight left over in a 110-106 road win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. The Warriors fell behind by 17 points in the second quarter before rallying to win despite sitting Draymond Green (shin) for the second straight game. “Once we got going, our competitive spirit really kicked in,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “Our guys really fought hard. They want to win. They hate losing. Even in a game that doesn’t mean a whole lot in the standings, it’s hard to keep these guys down.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE SUNS (38-37): Phoenix is missing that competitive spirit that
Kerr was talking about and did not put up much of a fight in a 109-86
loss at Portland on Monday after squandering a lead in a home loss to
the Oklahoma City Thunder in a crucial game on Sunday. “When things go
bad is where we really need to improve,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek told
Arizona Sports. “We’re in the middle area right now, and we need to try
to get better. We have stretches where we’ve seen it all – really good
offense and really good defense, but we’ve just got to do it for 48
minutes.”
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (61-13): The win over the Clippers
marked the 10th straight for Golden State, which breezed through a
four-game road trip. Stephen Curry is not taking the last few weeks of
the regular season off and is making a strong push for the MVP award by
averaging 29.4 points on 57 percent shooting, including 63.6 percent
from 3-point range, over the last five games. Curry also hasn’t missed a
free throw since Mar. 9, when he went 1-of-2 from the line to
compliment a 36-point performance in a 98-80 win at Phoenix.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Suns C Alex Len suffered a broken on Monday and will miss the game.
2. The Warriors have not lost at home since Jan. 27 and own an NBA-best 36-2 home record.
3. Golden State set a franchise record for wins in a month with a 16-2 March.