3 things we learnt from Warriors, Stephen Curry opening night loss to Kevin Durant's Suns
The opening night of the NBA's 2023-24 season saw the Golden State Warriors fall to the Phoenix Suns. The opening quarter ended with a tie at 28 apiece but the Warriors went down big in the second quarter after they were outscored 33-18. At half-time, the score stood at 61-46 in favor of Phoenix.
Golden State stormed back in the third quarter, scoring 40 points while holding their opponents to only 19. By the start of the fourth, they held a narrow six-point lead, at 86-80.
Unfortunately, they could not carry the momentum from their huge third quarter into the game's final frame. They were outscored and the game wrapped up with a final score of 108-104.
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3 takeaways from the Warriors' loss to the Phoenix Suns
While it is only the first game of the season, coach Steve Kerr and his squad will most likely study this loss to help them improve moving forward. There were several things that occurred in the game that one could point to as the source of the loss and here are three key takeaways from that game:
#1 Golden State could not capitalize on their opponent's mistakes
Throughout the game, the Phoenix Suns turned the ball over 19 times. However, Golden State was only able to generate nine points off turnovers. In comparison, the Warriors protected the ball well as they only coughed up the possession 11 times. However, the Suns were able to score a total of 22 points off turnovers.
The Golden State squad had several players come away with multiple steals. Gary Payton II and Moses Moody both had three while Jonathan Kuminga and Chris Paul had two apiece. If the Warriors are going to win more games moving forward, they will need to do better at converting their opponent's mistakes into points.
#2 Golden State had an abysmal shooting night
The entire Golden State squad put up a combined 101 field goal attempts in their opening night contest. Out of these, they only made a very disappointing 36 (10-43 from downtown). Several of their players had a very cold shooting night which is atypical of their squad.
Their terrible percentages on the field could be attributed to opening night jitters or it could be chalked up to being just "one of those nights." However, they will need to figure it out soon before the season starts to get away from them.
#3 Draymond Green's importance cannot be denied
Draymond Green missed his team's opening-day matchup due to an ankle injury. It is unclear how much longer he is going to be sidelined but it is clear that they need him back soon.
Despite having Paul, the team's ball movement seemed sluggish. Green coming back could solve this issue. Additionally, they need him on defense. Their ability to switch is severely compromised with him out of the lineup and they need him back if they're going to stop their opponents from scoring big.