Suns vs. Warriors Final Score: Chris Paul returns briefly as Phoenix pushes win streak to five, winning 123-115

The Phoenix Suns defeated the Golden State Warriors 123-115 in a game that will be marred in controversy and discussed ad nauseam. Why? Because Chris Paul was ejected by Scott Foster in dramatic fashion in the second quarter.

The Suns began to pull away after the fact behind Kevin Durant’s 32 points and Devin Booker's 10 assists. After leading by 23 points, the second team unit for Golden State whittled the lead down to 4, but Phoenix ultimately pulled out the victory.

It was a slog of a game, as both teams combined for 81 free throws, with Phoenix shooting 52 of them. Whistle’s a-plenty cause the length of the game to be two hours and forty-five minutes long.

With hustle minutes provided by Josh Okogie and Nassir Little, the Suns' defense put a lid on the Warrior offense limiting Steph Curry to only 16 points. The win pushes the Suns to 9-6 on the season and 5-0 since the return of Devin Booker.

Game Flow

First Half

Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors is trying to right the ship this season. In his last game against the Houston Rockets he was able to drain 20, and Wednesday night against the Suns he looked to continue his hot streak. Right out of the gate, he was 4-6 with 11 points in the first six minutes of the game.

The matchup of the night was Steph and Klay, vs Booker and KD. With CP3 facilitating, who had three assists in the first six minutes of the game, the Warriors were looking to get out and never look back.

KD did his best to match the Warriors by getting to the line early and slowing down the pace. The Warriors were pushing the pace and launching threes. Even the returning Dario Saric came in the game and nailed his first three. And with that, KD needed help! With Nassir Little entering the game, he got the help he needed.

Little grabbed a couple of buckets in the paint and brought a physical presence on the defensive end while rotating and helping out when needed.

With the return of Booker in the first quarter, he managed to get to the line, hitting all four of his free throws. But he still struggled to get a good look at the rim and seemed to be a little out of sync to start the game.

The Suns trailed the Warriors 31-26 entering the second quarter.

Fighting back to get into the game, Booker managed to get to the line while the defense of the Suns stiffened. Their play around the rim, not allowing second-chance buckets from the Warriors and detouring shots, frustrated the Warriors, resulting in turnovers or blocked shots.

Things started to slow down for the Suns halfway through the second quarter.

Eric Gordon was handed the keys in the second quarter with Booker on the bench and the offense started to stall. Gordon was ineffective in keeping the ball moving and the game turned into a “your turn, my turn” kind of game.

This landed the game even at 42 points a piece.

The pace by the Warriors slowed, due to great Suns defense and Curry going cold in the second quarter. Any shot and every shot was from three for the Warriors in hopes of getting hot. This Warriors team looked a little broken, to be honest. The Suns can still be credited but the Warriors were unable to put together one good offensive possession after the next.

After the ejection of CP3, hit with two technicals within a minute from Scott Foster, the Suns pulled away big with a 63-47 lead heading into the half.

Second Half

The Suns sucked the life out of the Warriors to start the third. They ran up the lead to 20 points while the Warriors tried to find themselves on both sides of the court. With CP3 gone, it would be a long road ahead to get the game close again.

The majority of the third quarter displayed sloppy play from the Warriors, giving the Suns all the momentum to run away with things.

KD remained the MVP of the Suns, getting buckets to fall in like the one below.

Saric came alive in the fourth quarter, cutting the Suns lead into half. The Warriors were only down by 10 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, becoming more physical and not backing down as easily as we thought they might have.

With Steph and Klay entering the game at the nine-minute mark in the fourth, the Warriors looked to out-shoot the Suns for the remainder of the game. But the Suns held tight and finished off the Warriors behind Gordon knocking down big threes and Curry unable to find his shot.

The ending was ugly, but it was a win. Suns 123-115.

Up Next

The Suns play their last In-Season Tournament group play game on Friday afternoon in Memphis against the struggling Grizzlies. We’ll see you then!