Smailagic Debutes, Golden State Warriors Rally to Beat the Phoenix Suns, 105-96

Golden State Warriors posted their fourth win in a row after coming back against the Phoenix Suns, 105-96. Steve Kerr’s guys ignited the crowd with a fantastic run in the final period, stunning the Suns who were ahead throughout the majority of the game. Also, this game will be remembered by Alen Smailagic’s debut in the NBA.

In eight days, the Golden State fans went from utterly frustrated to fired-up as their team posted its fourth straight win, improving the record to 9-24. Although it is still one of the worst in the league, the approach and the performance of the team brought back positive mood at Chase Center.

The middle two frames went in Suns’ favor, with the team from Arizona controlling the flow of the game and the result. Booker and Kaminsky have made a 7-0 run, which brought them the first bigger lead, 47-38, and a similar distance was at the halftime.

Following Booker’s free throws with 8:32 in the third, the guests had a 62-49 lead, confidently handling the things on the court. That was the difference at the start of the fourth, with no sign a possible comeback of the hosts.

Yet, Russell and Burks led the hosts while making an 11-2 series, and with 4:52 to go, the result was tied at 89-all. The Suns were in a panic, and the hosts used that with various solutions in the attack. Burks, Robinson III, Lee, Russell, Green, all these guys were hurting the guests who had everything in their hands just a few minutes before. Draymond hit a three to give his team a 102-95 lead with just under a two minutes.

“When the game matters, when it’s on the line, (Draymond) suddenly becomes a good shooter,” said Kerr at the press.

D-Lo ended the night with 31 points, 6 assists, 5 boards. Burks had 13, but most of them were in the last period when the game was on the line. Damion Lee once again had an important role, and with 16 points and 7 boards contributed a lot to GSW’s win.

The rookie out of Serbia, Alen Smailagic made his debut and in five minutes on the court scored 4 points and had one block. Smailagic is arguably one of the most talented European players, left a huge impression while playing in the G-League and during the preseason. He admitted following the match to be a bit nervous when entering the court.

“I heard them. That’s the only thing that made me nervous.”

DLo (31 PTS) came up big during Golden State’s comeback win! 👏#DubNation pic.twitter.com/sW8f6oiBpc

— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 28, 2019

Devin Booker scored 34 points for Phoenix and was shooting 13-of-24 from the field. However, there wasn’t anyone from the guests to join him, and the best scorers behind him were Ricky Rubio and Dario Saric with 11 points. The Croat added 10 rebounds to that.

Suns had 26 turnovers, and that is, without a doubt, the biggest crucial reason for their loss. Booker with 8 and Rubio with 7 were leading the in this negative category. Also, these two guys combined 1-of-10 from downtown.

This was the first of four straight road matches for the Suns(11-20). Up next, they head for Sacramento to face the Kings on a second of back-to-back nights. Following that, they have a clash against the Trail Blazers and the Lakers.

As for GSW (9-24), they await Luka Doncic and the Mavericks also on second of back-to-back nights.