Phoenix needed a response after a 41-point loss in Portland to open the season. Devin Booker supplied most of it himself.
Booker scored 43 points on 17-of-25 shooting Saturday night, and the Suns beat a short-handed Golden State Warriors team 131-122 at Mortgage Matchup Center. He added seven rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes and made 7 of 8 free throws, according to the NBA's official box score.
The win lifted Phoenix to 1-1 and gave the Suns a home-opening victory for a fifth consecutive season, The Associated Press reported.
A slow first quarter
The early going gave little hint of the scoring night to come. Phoenix went 1 of 12 from 3-point range in the first quarter and trailed 25-22 after 12 minutes.
Golden State was playing its third game in four days and rested Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski and Al Horford. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg kept the Warriors close anyway, and Booker's 19 first-half points were the difference in a 57-54 Phoenix lead at the break.
Seventeen in the third
The third quarter turned the game. Booker scored 17 points in the period, and the Suns put up 45 as a team, their best quarter of the night by 10 points.
The Warriors answered with a 12-0 run of their own in the period, according to the NBA's play-by-play tracking, before Phoenix answered with a 17-6 run. Booker hit a pull-up 3-pointer off a Jordan Goodwin pass to make it 98-89 with about half a minute left, and Goodwin beat the buzzer from deep to send Phoenix into the fourth ahead 102-92.
Booker made only 2 of his 7 attempts from beyond the arc. The rest of his scoring came on drives, midrange jumpers and trips to the line, and Phoenix finished with a 60-48 edge in paint points and a 27-10 advantage on the fast break.
