Preview: Warriors look to extend their win-streak against the Suns

Game information

Who: Golden State Warriors (43-13) vs. Phoenix Suns (18-39)

When: Monday, February 12 @ 7:30 PM PST

Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland CA

TV: NBATV, FSAZ, CSBA

Radio: 95.7 The Game

The opponent’s blog: Bright Side of the Sun

The bruised and battered

Warriors

Jordan Bell (out)

Suns

Brandon Knight (out)

Isaiah Canaan (out)

Tyson Chandler (questionable)

Tyler Ulis (questionable)

Devin Booker (questionable)

Back to their Warrior ways

After a string of listless performances in which players and coaches disclosed the mentally-wearied state of the team, the Dubs delivered a pair of solid wins over the Mavericks and Spurs with an average win-margin of 17.5 points.

The stellar defense that Warriors fans have become accustomed to returned more to form over the last two games as they held their opponents to 102 points per 100 possessions per NBA stats.

Containing opponents in the first

One area that the Warriors can continue to work on however is doing a better job at containing their opponents at the start of the game.

For the season, the Warriors are ranked second to last, allowing opponents to score 111 points per 100 possessions in the opening quarter — for reference we held opponents to only 100 points last season and ranked second overall.

The team is talented enough to compensate for this most nights. But working off of the points Steve Kerr discussed when talking about building bad habits, the Warriors don’t want to get used to having to play from behind — especially considering how competitive the rest of the league is shaping up to be this year.

A first look at Elfrid Payton in purple and orange

The Suns made a last minute trade before the deadline to acquire Payton from the Orlando Magic.

His debut for the Suns was an impressive near double-double with 19 points on 8-of-13 attempts with 9 assists.

He fills a major hole the team had at the point guard position, but most likely won’t move the needle too far in this matchup against the Warriors.

Especially if Booker is held out of the game due to a hip pointer that has sidelined him for their last two games.