Field Level Media
Mar 10, 2019
Devin Booker's jumper with 5:01 remaining gave Phoenix the lead for good Sunday night as the Suns snapped an 18-game losing streak to the Golden State Warriors with a 115-111 victory in Oakland, Calif.
Playing the second night of a back-to-back, the Suns found the energy to outlast the Warriors after having trailed by as many as 16 points.
The Suns hadn't beaten the Warriors since November 2014, and hadn't won in Oakland since February 2011. The losing skid had been the NBA's longest current streak.
The loss was the Warriors' second in six days, sandwiching a 122-105 home win over Denver on Friday.
Booker finished with a game-high 37 points, including 13 consecutive Suns points during a stretch of the fourth quarter in which Phoenix took charge of the game.
Klay Thompson had 28 points and Kevin Durant 25 for the Warriors, who now embark on a four-game trip that tips off with a visit to Houston on Wednesday.
Durant left about midway through the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. It happened when he appeared to land on a Suns defender's foot after putting up a shot.
Citing a tweet from the San Jose Mercury News, the Sporting News reported that Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn't think it was a major injury, adding that he didn't know whether Durant would need an MRI.
The Suns trailed 98-97 before Booker's go-ahead shot with just over five minutes to play.
Booker then buried a 3-pointer, a jumper and a dunk in succession, single-handedly increasing the Phoenix lead to 106-98.
A 3-pointer by Kelly Oubre Jr. with 3:19 remaining made it an 11-point game.
The Warriors rallied and had a shot at a tie, but Stephen Curry capped an ice-cold night of 3-point shooting for Golden State with a miss from beyond the arc with 23.7 seconds left.
Booker then capped his big night with two game-clinching free throws before Mikal Bridges added another pair.
Booker complemented his 37 points with a game-high 11 assists and eight rebounds for Phoenix, which had won three in a row before Saturday's 127-120 loss at Portland.
Oubre had 22 points, Deandre Ayton 18 to go with nine rebounds, and Bridges and Tyler Johnson 10 points apiece for the Suns, who had lost the first three meetings with the Warriors this season by a total of 53 points.
Curry added 18 points and DeMarcus Cousins 13 for the Warriors, while Draymond Green grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to complement six points and eight assists.
Golden State shot just 10 for 43 on 3-pointers, with Thompson and Curry both going 4 for 15, Durant 1 for 4 and Cousins 0 for 3.
The Suns outshot the Warriors 48.8 percent to 44.2 overall.
The Warriors' 16-point lead occurred in the game's 10th minute at 27-11.
The Suns got even before halftime, then led by as many as seven in the third period before the Warriors appeared to gain the upper hand with a 20-6 burst that produced an 88-81 advantage with 9:33 remaining.
--Field Level Media