The Golden State Warriors were hungry for their third straight victory Monday night, looking to make the Phoenix Suns their victim. But the streaking Suns put up quite a fight, down to the final seconds, but the W's would eventually prevail by the score of 102-96 at Oracle Arena.
After shooting 35% from the floor in the first half, the Suns held the lead for the majority of three quarters, but a 22-8 run in third powered a big comeback, leading to a 10 point lead with five minutes left to play. That was quickly whittled away with a few unforced errors, leading to a Mark Jackson timeout to regroup his squad for the final minutes.
The Warriors didn't score for the last four and a half minutes of the game before a left-handed hook in the paint by Ekpe Udoh pushed the W's lead back to five with 36 seconds left and eventually for good, leading to their first three game winning streak of the season.
David Lee had himself a big night, finishing up with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Monta Ellis dropped 18 and seven assists despite starting the game 0-10 from the field. Steph Curry had nine points and seven dimes, while the bench mob was strong again with Nate Robinson's 11, Klay Thompson's 10, and Brandon Rush's 8. As for the aforementioned Udoh, he had nine points and three blocks leading the W's once in at +14 in the +/-.
Steve Nash's 14 assists fueled five other Suns to score in double figures, led by Marcin Gortat's 25 and 12, and Channing Frye's 18 on 7-17 shooting.
Winner's of five of their last seven games now, the Warriors host the Portland Trailblazers Wednesday, then on to Oklahoma City for another meeting with Kevin Durant and the Thunder on Friday. This will be a tough little stretch to see if the W's can keep their great play going.
Full box score can be found here.
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