Warriors visit Suns in Christmas Day clash between Steph Curry and Chris Paul

Only 11 teams in the NBA have a winning record right now, and on Christmas Day you’ll see two divisional rivals battling not only for supremacy in the West, but for home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Tiebreakers could come in handy during seeding when the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns finalize their playoff standings.

They’ll meet on Christmas Day to take another step in sorting it all out, and it will be a marquee matchup despite a depleted Golden State roster.

Currently the two teams have tied the season series at 1-1, with each team holding serve in their home gym. The Suns are a league best 26-5, with The Dubs only 0.5 games back in the standings at 26-6.

In the first game, the Suns activated a defensive masterclass against the Warriors in Phoenix, bringing GSW’s vaunted ball movement to a turnover riddled halt.

The second game the Warriors turned the tables and locked up the Suns in San Francisco like they were serving a life sentence on Alcatraz, while demonstrating a renewed decisiveness on offense.

Golden State will be working without a full deck in this game unfortunately, as they’ll be missing Klay Thompson, James Wiseman, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Damion Lee, and Moses Moody.

I’d expect to see a lot of Gary Payton II, Golden State’s 6-foot-3 dynamo who is going to draw the tough assignment of trying to corral Phoenix’s All-Star guard Chris Paul. GP2’s offense will have to opportunistically punish the Suns if the Dubs are going to counteract a Phoenix defense that figures to be very focused on Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

Golden State Warriors at Phoenix Suns

December 25th, 2021 | 2:00 PT

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