The Golden State Warriors fell to the Phoenix Suns 115-111 as Kevin Durant suffered a right ankle contusion. Devin Booker drilled the champs for 37 points.
The Dubs were led by Klay Thompson’s 28 points, and Durant had 25 before he went down. Stephen Curry struggled again, shooting 6-of-20 from the field, and 4-of-15 from beyond the arc for 18 points. Golden State finished the game a ghastly 10-of-43 from three-point range.
First Half
Curry started off with a rough half, scoring 3 points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field with 3 fouls. Yet somehow he had a team leading +11 plus/minus, perhaps partially due to his 6 assists. Thompson’s 19 points led the champs in scoring after two quarters, with Durant adding 14 points.
The Warriors got up by as much as 16 points early on, but the Suns roared back with a dominant 40-28 run in the 2nd quarter.
DeAndre Ayton led Phoenix with 12 points and 6 rebounds after two quarters.
KLAY DOING IT ALL pic.twitter.com/uCrKtdFCWt
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 11, 2019
“Max me”- Klay https://t.co/qDLB8Qk95y
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) March 11, 2019
Warriors 57-56
Second Half
The Suns took a slim lead for the majority of the third quarter, and the Oracle crowd begged for the Warriors to hit a shot, any shot. Durant took the time to consistently feed his teammates, despite their bricks. It was heartwarming to see Durant calmly sharing the ball, showing his confidence in his struggling teammates and his knowledge of the Warriors offensive schemes.
Eventually when the Splash Bros went to the bench, Durant started easing into his shot, and guided a 15-6 run to close out the quarter. The Dubs would take a 80-79 advantage into the 4th quarter, despite shooting 6-of-33 (18%) from downtown up to that point.
Midway through the fourth Durant fell on Ayton’s foot on a jump-pass, and laid on the floor for an extended time holding his ankle. He got up on his own power and slowly walked back into the locker room.
Durant was down for a moment but just walked slowly right back to the locker room. Warriors GM Bob Myers going back with him.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) March 11, 2019
Warriors say Kevin Durant (right ankle contusion) will not return to tonight's game.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) March 11, 2019
Booker scored 11 straight to put Phoenix up 106-98. The Warriors got down 111-103 with under three minutes remaining. The Warriors cut it to within 111-108, but Curry missed a good look from deep with 20 seconds left to tie the game. The Suns hit free throws and salted the game away.
A rousing exhibition to be sure, but truly unfortunate that Durant went down.