The Golden State Warriors have earned a lot of leeway, but this isn’t looking great. The defense and bench, both core elements of a near-decade run as top-flight championship contenders, are hide-your-eyes bad at the moment, and not even Stephen Curry having another MVP-level campaign is enough to cover for it all.
For the 11th time in his NBA career, Steph Curry scored 50 points, but the struggling Golden State Warriors were defeated 130-119 by the Phoenix Suns despite his efforts. Curry had a historic night, shooting 17 of 28 from the field, 7 of 11 from beyond the arc, while also pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Golden State, 6-9 overall, has now opened the season 0-8 on the road for the first time since 1989, when the Warriors lost their first nine road games.
On Wednesday, the Suns got any shot they wanted, uncontested looks all over the court. You don’t say this often, but the Warriors just looked like they flat out couldn’t keep up.
“We’re never going to panic, there’s no point in panicking,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters after Wednesday’s game. “What we have to do is stay with it and find it. But in order to find it, we’ve got to get everybody on board, on the same page in terms of just worrying about winning – and that’s it. I saw a lot of hanging heads tonight,” he added. “I think we’re feeling sorry for ourselves.”
With the victory on Wednesday, the Suns improved to 9-5 on the year and moved up to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the Portland Trail Blazers. On Friday, they go off to Utah to face the Jazz as the Warriors host the New York Knicks.
