I think this was a big-time win for the Warriors, and I don’t care how tired they looked doing it. Ugly? Sure. Messy? Absolutely. But when you erase a 17-point deficit and still walk out with a 116-113 win over the Suns, that is not noise. That is a statement.
And the statement is simple: Golden State found a way when it had every excuse not to. The Warriors were on the second night of a back-to-back and playing their third game in four nights. That kind of stretch can flatten a team fast. Instead, they dug in at Chase Center on Monday night and turned a game that looked like it was slipping away into their fifth straight win. After an 0-3 start, that matters. A lot.
Steph Curry was the engine, because of course he was. He started slow, then exploded for a game-high 34 points. That’s the part that should make everybody in the building exhale and everybody else groan. In his last three games, he’s scored 44, 31 and 34 points. At 38 years old, in Year 18, he’s averaging exactly 30 points this season. EXACTLY 30. That is absurd. That is not normal. That is Steph Curry being Steph Curry and then some.
And he didn’t do it alone. Brandin Podziemski added 20 points. Charles Bassey came off the bench and dropped a career-high 19. Yaxel Lendeborg followed his 37-point performance with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. That’s the kind of supporting cast production that turns a comeback from a nice story into a real one.
Draymond Green’s night was a different story. He returned from resting the previous night, but he was ineffective and got ejected in the third quarter. That’s not the clean version of the win. That’s part of the mess. But the Warriors still held it together. That’s the whole point.
This is the kind of game that can say more than a comfortable blowout ever could. The Warriors were exhausted. They were behind. They were not sharp early. And still, they won. Five straight. No five-game streak last season. Now they’ve got one. Tell me that doesn’t matter.
