SAN FRANCISCO – No more messing around. The Warriors, for the most part, got the memo and mostly acted accordingly, beating the Phoenix Suns 118-107 on Tuesday night at Chase Center. 

The Suns scored the first five points of the game, but never led again after that. Frustrations from two ugly losses to lesser teams missing their main talent turned to focus for the Warriors back on their home court. The Warriors assisted 20 of their 25 made shots with only five turnovers in the first half to mount a 19-point halftime lead. 

They then reverted back to some bad habits and tallied seven turnovers in the third quarter, allowing the Suns to make it a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Having to bring Steph Curry back in for the final three and a half minutes of a game the Warriors led by as many as 25 points is less than ideal. But the Warriors held on for a badly needed 11-point win.

Curry in 34 minutes scored a team-high 28 points with four rebounds, three assists and five 3-pointers.

Behind him in the scoring category for the Warriors was Moses Moody, who after scoring 20 points against the Memphis Grizzlies a week ago had scored just 12 points since. Moody against the Suns put up a season-high 24 points in 34 minutes off the bench, going 7 of 11 from the field and 5 of 8 from deep.

Devin Booker did all he could for the Suns, scoring 38 points for his sixth 30-point game already this season.

The only downside to the win was Jimmy Butler not playing the second half because of lower back soreness. Butler’s back tightened up earlier Tuesday, but after going through a pregame warmup on the Warriors’ practice court, Butler felt healthy enough to play. He was a plus-17 in 14 minutes with two points, four rebounds and two assists. 

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ win against the Suns.

Bench Mob

Instead of a one-man show or relying solely on their stars, a rolodex of Warriors contributed to their win. Chief among them was Moody and the rest of his bench buddies. Moody on his third three pumped his right fist and played into the crowd’s reaction. Those three points put the Warriors ahead by 23 points and gave Moody his 300th career 3-pointer. 

Moody passed Dorell Wright for 18th place on the Warriors’ all-time list of made threes. Multiple Moody threes staved off rallies from the Suns.

The bench in the first half scored 41 points, which were a new season high for an entire game. They wound up with 63, which were 44 more than Phoenix’s reserves. 

Along with Moody’s big night, Brandin Podziemski scored 13 points, Buddy Hield had 12, and every bench player but Hield and Gui Santos had a positive plus/minus. Whenever the Warriors play a back-to-back, production from the bench is paramount.

QP + TJD Combo 

They play the same position but couldn’t be more different as players. With Al Horford out for the first night of a back-to-back, coach Steve Kerr found a way to get the best out of centers Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis. 

Post started and found his 3-point shot early after struggling the previous two games. He was 1 of 7 from long distance in losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers, and then made his first three attempts of the first quarter.

Jackson-Davis, after being a DNP-CD (Did Not Play, Coach’s Decision) in those two losses, replaced Post a little more than halfway through the first quarter and made his presence felt. As Post drained threes, Jackson-Davis rattled the rim, finishing two alley-oops in the final minute and a half of the quarter. 

His first of the two came right after swatting away a layup, too. 

Jackson-Davis in the first two weeks of the season scored a total of eight points in 27 minutes. Against the Suns, he played 15 minutes and dropped seven points on three dunks and a free throw. Post in 27 minutes scored a season-high 14 points while going 4 of 6 on threes to balance the Warriors’ two centers.

Draymond’s Defense 

The best medicine to fix a leaky defense from two straight bad losses is an all-time great understanding the moment. That’s what the Warriors got out of Draymond Green early to get back in the win column. Nothing was getting by him, even when the Suns had the advantage on him.

Nobody shuts down a 1 vs. 3 in transition like the Warriors’ defensive wizard. When Jonathan Kuminga lost his dribble three and a half minutes into the game, Green ran back, stopped Booker and got in between Ryan Dunn and Royce O’Neal. Booker chose Dunn and Green met him at the rim, contesting and forcing a missed layup.

Not even two minutes later, Green again stopped a fastbreak by Booker and jumped out to the 3-point line to get vertical for Grayson Allen’s attempt. He missed and on the other side Curry hit his second three of the game for a six-point swing. 

After leading the NBA in 3-pointers made per game (16.4) coming into the night, the Suns went 1 of 7 from 3-point range in the first quarter and were 5 of 15 through the first two quarters. Phoenix found some success in the third quarter, going 3 of 7, but ended four threes shy of their season average, and Green was a big reason why.

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