PHOENIX Suns wasted an early double-digit lead before escaping with a 108-104 victory over Golden State Warriors in the 2023-2024 NBA Season on Tuesday night (Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
Leading by as much as 15 points at the half, the Suns were stunned by a massive 21-4 scoring run by the Warriors as they trail 80-88 at the onset of the final quarter.
The Suns then went on a 15-5 rampage from Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Drew Eubanks and Eric Gordon to take a 95-93 lead, but Warriors regained the lead for the last time at 96-95 on a three-point play by Kevon Looney.
Four straight point by Booker followed by back-to-back triples by Josh Okogie and Gordon gave the Suns a 106-101 lead. The Warriors cut it to 104-106 on a Stephen Curry triple, but Phoenix sealed the win on an inside hit by Jusuf Nurkic.
Booker top-scored for the Suns with 32 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Durant posted a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Okogie, Nurkic and Gordon ended with 17, 14, and 10, respectively.
Curry led the way for the Warriors with 27 points, Klay Thompson chipped in 15 markers, while former Suns guard Chris Paul had a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists.
Meanwhile, Denver Nuggets kicked off their title retention bid with a 119-107 domination of Los Angeles Lakers at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.
The Nuggets were scorching to start the game as they cruised to a 34-20 lead, but the Lakers slowly clawed its way back as they cut the deficit to as low as 89-92 in the fourth quarter.
Denver, however, regained their offense as Nikola Jokić and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope connecting their outside shots as the lead grew to as high as 16 points.
Jokić posted a triple-double of 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, Jamal Murray added 21 markers, while Caldwell-Pope, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. had 20, 15 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Nuggets./PN
BOX SCORE:
PHOENIX 108 — Booker 32, Durant 18, Okogie 17, Nurkic 17, Gordon 14, Watanabe 8, Eubanks 4, Little 3, Goodwin 2, Allen 0.
GOLDEN STATE 104 — Curry 27, Thompson 15, Paul 14, Kuminga 12, Moody 11, Wiggins 10, Saric 7, Looney 7, Payton 1, Joseph 0.
Quarterscores: 28-28, 61-46, 80-86, 108-104
