Reactions: Warriors 115, Suns 86

Phoenix Suns

115

Golden State Warriors

	David Lee, PF 26 MIN \| 7-10 FG \| 3-4 FT \| 7 REB \| 5 AST \| 0 STL \| 0 BLK \| 4 TO \| 17 PTS \| +23Lee — along with the rest of the starters — were used sparingly tonight. Lee had a very productive night in short minutes and joked after the game about Curry taking some rebounds from him. At the other end of the floor, Lee did a solid job on Channing Frye as the entire Suns squad shot horrifically from beyond the arc (17% on 4/23 from deep). They were previously fifth in the NBA in 3PT%. Lee has strung together a nice slew of games — one that coincides with the return of Andre Iguodala — and has become the efficient post scorer the Warriors grew to know last season.
	Andre Iguodala, SF 25 MIN \| 3-4 FG \| 0-0 FT \| 3 REB \| 0 AST \| 0 STL \| 0 BLK \| 2 TO \| 8 PTS \| +15Iguodala isn’t 100% right now, but he’s slowly progressing towards full health and along with his stellar defense, showed some signs of life on the offensive end as well. The Suns go as far as their backcourt takes them and the Curry-Thompson-Iguodala trio held them in check — Dragic and Bledsoe shot a combined 6/18. What will continue to help the starters: Iguodala making the three-ball that was his bread and butter before the injury. Iguodala is fourth in the NBA in 3PT% at 63 attempts for the season, a number the team hopes he can somewhat stay near as the season progresses.
	Andrew Bogut, C 22 MIN \| 4-8 FG \| 0-0 FT \| 6 REB \| 0 AST \| 0 STL \| 3 BLK \| 2 TO \| 8 PTS \| +22How relieving is it to have Andrew Bogut in a Warriors uniform? Really, at a position of need for years, the Warriors have found their franchise center for a relatively low price considering how much he’s worth to this team. Friday night, Bogut only needed to play 22 minutes, and these shorter games — and blowout wins — can only help Bogut in the long-run as he prepares his body for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
	Stephen Curry, PG 34 MIN \| 5-17 FG \| 3-5 FT \| 13 REB \| 16 AST \| 1 STL \| 0 BLK \| 7 TO \| 14 PTS \| +27Curry had an absolutely ridiculous night and he shot only 29% for the game. He was one rebound and assist away from a triple-double at halftime, and earned his third career triple-double early into the 3Q. His 16 assists and 13 rebounds were both careers highs, and there was the possibility of a 20-20-20 night had this been a closer game in the 4Q. Mark Jackson won’t complain with the amazing production his point guard playing at a superstar level. It won’t be long until Curry shares the floor with other superstars in New Orleans. Something to nitpick: he’s at an 86.6% clip from the free throw line this season.
	Klay Thompson, SG 24 MIN \| 9-11 FG \| 1-1 FT \| 4 REB \| 2 AST \| 1 STL \| 0 BLK \| 0 TO \| 21 PTS \| +22Thompson had another incredibly efficient game as he’s beginning to find his shooting stroke. I mean, 81% isn’t too bad. At all. He made it looks easy as well as help hold Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic to a poor night from the floor. The Suns backcourt simply never found a rhythm, and while they attempted to find shots at the rim they were either met with stout defense or the shot just didn’t drop. Nothing to be critical of tonight for Thompson, just a stellar performance.

Quote of the game:

“Just about everything [went wrong]. I guess — we were in there talking — game 28 is the first egg w’ve laid for the season. so you’re going to have those games every once in awhile. I think they came out ready to play. They really attacked us, and we were slow to everything. Offensively we were slow to get in our spots to run off our sets. They pushed us anywhere they wanted. And we were trying to execute the plays from 30 feet out rather than the 16 or 17 feet out we should be, so they just took it to us.” — Jeff Hornacek, Suns Head Coach

Phoenix Suns shot chart aka “There Will Be Blood”:

Throwback video of the night:

[youtube id=”abUJaDmi_to” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no”]

Looking ahead: The Warriors now head on a seven-game road trip that sees them facing seven Eastern Conference opponents in an 11 game span. Their first test comes Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

David Lee postgame rookie hazing video of the night:

[youtube id=”QQvTb3vOvgE” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no”]

Yes, that was me. I didn’t have the answers. Word to Sway.

Tweets of the night:

Comedy! RT @ODxFlash: @warriorsworld #fullsquad pic.twitter.com/sFH7UOSYkD

— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) December 28, 2013

I’ll take Warrior Stats for $400 Alex. “13-3” “What is #FullSquad?”

— Dan Martinez (@dmar) December 28, 2013

“@warriorsworld: “You Aint Got the Answers, Jordan!” -DLee pic.twitter.com/ZLDllPMCYk”classic lol

— David Lee (@Dlee042) December 28, 2013

Follow @JRAM_91

	David Lee, PF 26 MIN \| 7-10 FG \| 3-4 FT \| 7 REB \| 5 AST \| 0 STL \| 0 BLK \| 4 TO \| 17 PTS \| +23Lee — along with the rest of the starters — were used sparingly tonight. Lee had a very productive night in short minutes and joked after the game about Curry taking some rebounds from him. At the other end of the floor, Lee did a solid job on Channing Frye as the entire Suns squad shot horrifically from beyond the arc (17% on 4/23 from deep). They were previously fifth in the NBA in 3PT%. Lee has strung together a nice slew of games — one that coincides with the return of Andre Iguodala — and has become the efficient post scorer the Warriors grew to know last season.
	Andre Iguodala, SF 25 MIN \| 3-4 FG \| 0-0 FT \| 3 REB \| 0 AST \| 0 STL \| 0 BLK \| 2 TO \| 8 PTS \| +15Iguodala isn’t 100% right now, but he’s slowly progressing towards full health and along with his stellar defense, showed some signs of life on the offensive end as well. The Suns go as far as their backcourt takes them and the Curry-Thompson-Iguodala trio held them in check — Dragic and Bledsoe shot a combined 6/18. What will continue to help the starters: Iguodala making the three-ball that was his bread and butter before the injury. Iguodala is fourth in the NBA in 3PT% at 63 attempts for the season, a number the team hopes he can somewhat stay near as the season progresses.
	Andrew Bogut, C 22 MIN \| 4-8 FG \| 0-0 FT \| 6 REB \| 0 AST \| 0 STL \| 3 BLK \| 2 TO \| 8 PTS \| +22How relieving is it to have Andrew Bogut in a Warriors uniform? Really, at a position of need for years, the Warriors have found their franchise center for a relatively low price considering how much he’s worth to this team. Friday night, Bogut only needed to play 22 minutes, and these shorter games — and blowout wins — can only help Bogut in the long-run as he prepares his body for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
	Stephen Curry, PG 34 MIN \| 5-17 FG \| 3-5 FT \| 13 REB \| 16 AST \| 1 STL \| 0 BLK \| 7 TO \| 14 PTS \| +27Curry had an absolutely ridiculous night and he shot only 29% for the game. He was one rebound and assist away from a triple-double at halftime, and earned his third career triple-double early into the 3Q. His 16 assists and 13 rebounds were both careers highs, and there was the possibility of a 20-20-20 night had this been a closer game in the 4Q. Mark Jackson won’t complain with the amazing production his point guard playing at a superstar level. It won’t be long until Curry shares the floor with other superstars in New Orleans. Something to nitpick: he’s at an 86.6% clip from the free throw line this season.
	Klay Thompson, SG 24 MIN \| 9-11 FG \| 1-1 FT \| 4 REB \| 2 AST \| 1 STL \| 0 BLK \| 0 TO \| 21 PTS \| +22Thompson had another incredibly efficient game as he’s beginning to find his shooting stroke. I mean, 81% isn’t too bad. At all. He made it looks easy as well as help hold Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic to a poor night from the floor. The Suns backcourt simply never found a rhythm, and while they attempted to find shots at the rim they were either met with stout defense or the shot just didn’t drop. Nothing to be critical of tonight for Thompson, just a stellar performance.