Booker Had the Big Night. Phoenix’s Guards Made It a Win.

Devin Booker’s response to Phoenix’s opener was loud enough to cover nearly every other detail. The better sign arrived in the spaces between his baskets.

Booker scored 43 points on 17-for-25 shooting as the Suns defeated Golden State 131-122 Saturday at Mortgage Matchup Center, moving to 1-1 after the 124-83 loss at Portland. His work inside the arc was especially exact: 15-for-18 on two-point attempts, good for 30 points before his two three-pointers and seven free throws were added.

That was the headline. It was not the whole story. Phoenix needed Booker’s shot-making, but the Suns also needed guards who could organize possessions, punish openings and make the Warriors pay when the game threatened to turn into a private Booker recital.

Collin Gillespie supplied much of that structure. He finished with 11 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two turnovers, and his third-quarter stretch helped Phoenix establish control without asking Booker to manufacture every answer. Gillespie made a layup at 4:52 of the third quarter to put the Suns ahead 79-75.

De’Anthony Melton scored at 4:28 and added the free throw, trimming the margin to one before Gillespie answered with a three at 4:12. He hit another at 3:40, putting Phoenix ahead 85-80.

The sequence kept moving through several hands. Booker scored at 2:17 to make it 90-86, Jordan Goodwin added a basket at 1:33, and Goodwin later hit a three with two seconds left in the quarter. Phoenix entered the fourth ahead 102-92.

Goodwin finished with nine points, four assists and three steals, and his value was less about volume than timing. He helped keep the Suns’ offense from becoming predictable while creating extra defensive possessions.

Phoenix’s fourth-quarter answer came from Luke Kennard. At 6:09, after Collin Gillespie and Georges Niang traded turnovers, Kennard hit a 26-foot jumper to make it 117-102. He finished with 11 points, made 3 of 5 threes and did not turn the ball over. At 4:35, he connected again from long range, with Dillon Brooks providing the assist, extending the advantage to 122-108.

Those shots were useful because Golden State had refused to leave quietly. Yaxel Lendeborg scored 26 points and made 6 of 11 threes. De’Anthony Melton added 25, while Brandon Williams scored 20 and handed out five assists.

The Warriors also collected 19 offensive rebounds, compared with nine for Phoenix. Extra chances kept the visitors in the game even while they played without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski, Al Horford and Jimmy Butler.

The late push was real. Lendeborg’s three at 4:20 cut Phoenix’s lead to 122-111. Will Richard’s three at 3:00 reduced it again, to 124-117. Golden State’s second chances had made the deficit feel temporary all night, and Phoenix had no business treating a nine-point lead as a ceremonial cushion.

The Suns created enough offense to avoid that trap. They shot 50-for-86 overall, scored 60 points in the paint and finished with 33 assists. Miles Bridges contributed 16 points and seven rebounds without a turnover.

Brooks added 15 points and five assists. Khaman Maluach had nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Dunn’s five rebounds and two blocks also helped Phoenix survive stretches when the Warriors’ extra possessions began piling up.

The counterargument is obvious and important: this was a depleted, winless Golden State team entering its third game. The Warriors still shot 17-for-39 from three-point range and made Phoenix work through a 23-for-32 night at the free-throw line. A victory over this version of Golden State does not erase Portland, settle Phoenix’s rotation or certify a repaired season.

Kennard’s fourth-quarter threes were the practical support for Booker’s big night. The first made it 117-102, and the second restored a fourteen-point lead after Golden State had scored again. Phoenix received the spectacular scoring performance it needed from Booker, then kept finding baskets from other players while trying to finish the win.

Sources

NBA: official box score

ESPN: box score and play-by-play