Suns at Warriors
The Phoenix Suns rank near the bottom of the NBA in scoring defense with an average of 111.9 points allowed and are about to take on the highest-scoring offense in the league. The Suns will try to find some answers for Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson when they visit the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
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Phoenix earned a 109-107 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday despite allowing them to shoot 50.6 percent from the field, and the Suns look like a stronger team when the bench contributes. Reserve guard Brandon Knight scored 23 points in the win and is averaging 15.3 points in victories while slumping to 12 points on 35.1 percent shooting in losses. Phoenix could get lucky with a tired Golden State squad after the Warriors battled into double overtime before dropping a 132-127 decision to the Houston Rockets at home on Thursday. "Under pressure, with a tough game going on, you got to be able to execute better than we did," Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "That's on us and our staff of doing a better job of getting guys into some things to get comfortable down the stretch."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE SUNS (6-13): Leandro Barbosa was a key member of the Golden State teams that made back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals the last two seasons but left to return to Phoenix over the summer and found himself in a slump recently. Barbosa went 0-of-9 from the field in back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Denver before coming through down the stretch and scoring eight points in Wednesday's triumph. "I never lost the confidence," Barbosa told the Arizona Republic. "The confidence is always there, no matter if I make it or not. I will shoot that ball. It was good today because we need a win."
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (16-3): Golden State had a 12-game winning streak come to end with Thursday's loss as Curry, Durant and Thompson combined to go 10-of-37 from 3-point range. Curry fouled out with over three minutes left in the second overtime while Thompson went into a deep shooting slump and finished 4-of-20 from the floor in 47 minutes. Thompson went 5-of-15 from the floor and 0-of-6 from beyond the arc at Phoenix in a 106-100 win on Oct. 30, but put up 30 points on 11-of-18 and 5-of-8 in a 133-120 home win over the Suns on Nov. 13.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Suns SF Jared Dudley (foot) returned from a one-game absence on Wednesday and scored 17 points in 32 minutes off the bench.
2. Warriors F Draymond Green finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists on Thursday.
3. Golden State took the last nine in the series.