SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors didn’t have Steph Curry or Draymond Green when they visited the Suns on the second half of a back-to-back last weekend.
Hosting the Suns, again coming off a game the previous night, Golden State set things up to make sure its two veteran stars would be available for the rematch.
The training staff’s best efforts ended up for naught.
After sitting out Sunday’s win over the Clippers, Green spent most of the second half Monday night in the locker room. Green was ejected two minutes into the second half.
And that was precisely when the game turned for the Warriors, who pulled out a 116-113 win after falling behind by as many as 17 points and not holding a lead until the fourth quarter.
The Warriors have won five straight since their 131-122 loss in Phoenix last Saturday.
When Green was tossed from the game, Golden State trailed 68-57. Immediately after play resumed, the Warriors’ energy changed and they went on a 16-5 run to tie the score at 73.
Curry didn’t exactly seem freshly rested as he struggled for nine points in the first half. But he exploded for 25 after halftime to lead the Warriors, finishing with 34.
After going off for 37 points without Curry the previous night and leading the Warriors with 26 the last time they faced Phoenix, Yaxel Lendeborg was contained to 16 on 3-of-10 shooting.
But the Warriors didn’t shy away from running their offense from the rookie with Curry off the floor, and his eight second-half free throws on nine attempts kept the Suns at bay.
With 44 and 31 his past two games, Curry notched the 25th streak of his career of three straight games with 30 or more in the scoring column. In six games this season, Curry has scored at least 20 in all of them, averaging 30.0, trailing only Anthony Edwards and Luka Doncic.
With Devin Booker pouring in 26 to lead the Suns and Mikal Bridges adding 21, Curry couldn’t do it by himself. He got an unlikely assist in the form of center Charles Bassey, who picked up many of Green’s second-half minutes to finish with a career-best 19 on 7-of-10 shooting.
Brandin Podziemski also contributed 20 points, including 14 after halftime. He tied the game at 93 on the Warriors’ final possession of the third quarter on a kickout from Lendeborg.
A cutting Bassey converted one of Curry’s team-high seven assists on the Warriors’ first possession of the fourth quarter that gave them their first lead of the game, 95-93, and the margin never got wider than seven in either direction the rest of the way.
The Warriors followed in Curry’s footsteps in the first half, knocking down just two of their first 17 attempts from 3. But the ball started falling for Curry and his teammates after halftime.
Golden State drained 11 of its final 25 attempts from 3, including five from Curry.
