The night began with a sold-out Chase Center cheering on Kevin Durant as a friendly highlight package played and ended with Devin Booker silencing the 18,064 in attendance.
While Durant failed to reach 20 points in his first game at the Chase Center, Booker was the best player on the court all night. The shooting guard paced a Phoenix offense that built a 15-point halftime lead and then buried Golden State with a trio of assists.
Chris Paul stepped up in his Warriors debut as Stephen Curry dealt with foul trouble, but Golden State’s 10-for-43 performance from deep sank them in a 108-104 defeat.
To begin another season with championship expectations in the Bay Area, the Warriors (0-1) got out-rebounded 60 to 49 and couldn’t make up the difference with hot shooting. Booker poured in a game-high 32 points on 13-for-21 field goals, beating the boss level Warriors defenders in Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II Golden State decided to close the game with.
“It felt like kind of a typical first game in a lot of ways,” head coach Steve Kerr said postgame.
Here are three takeaways from the season opener.
The Chris Paul effect
The Warriors are thrilled to have Chris Paul on their team rather than as the opposition (in this case, playing alongside Booker and Durant like he did last year). That’s true generally, and particularly in moments like when he draws an offensive foul while defending Durant in a cleaned out isolation or goads the refs while Golden State is in the bonus.
All the little, annoying things Paul has done to the Warriors over the years — they’re not so bad when he’s doing them in blue and yellow, huh?
But where Paul’s presence really showed was in the third quarter. For as long as the Warriors employ Steph Curry, the non-Steph minutes will always be something to watch. If the Warriors can stay afloat, or even win the minutes while Curry sits, they’re going to be a problem.
With Paul for a stretch in the third quarter, they dominated. After Curry hit the bench with his fourth foul, the Warriors went on a 15-4 run. Paul scored 10 of them, including his first bucket as a Warrior after an 0-for-6 start to his debut.
Since Durant departed in 2019, the Warriors haven’t had a player quite like Paul — an offensive hub who can operate an efficient offense for long stretches.
Paul isn’t the best player on the team. When Draymond Green returns from his ankle injury, he might not even start. But he could be the Warriors’ best solution for the non-Steph minutes in years.
In the last three minutes of the game, Paul canned a patented midrange jumper to bring GSW within one and snagged a key steal, but Booker took over.
Paul finished with nine assists and one turnover, highlighting an area he’ll bring immediate improvement to the Warriors (GSW ranked last in turnovers last year). Despite a poor shooting night, Paul scored 14 points and reeled in six boards.
“He gives us a different dimension,” Kerr said of Paul.
The Suns’ top-heaviness shows
Especially without Bradley Beal (back), the Suns are extremely thin. That’s what happens when you go all-in around three supermax players.
When Booker and Durant shared the court, Phoenix was practically unstoppable offensively. Just about everything was at the rim or decided by two of the most gifted isolation scorers ever. Jusuf Nurkic helped keep the offense flowing, with the supernova duo flying around him on handoffs or screens.
But when either sat, the Suns looked more like the Monstars than monsters.
In the first quarter, the Suns trotted out a lineup of Booker, Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks and Josh Okogie. Watanabe’s a good player, but no contender should have him as the second best player on the court.
Later, Phoenix closed the quarter with Grayson Allen, Jordan Goodwin, Eubanks, Gordon and Watanabe. It looked like a preseason five.
The Warriors’ bench, led by Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, outscored that of Phoenix’s 31 to 27.
Much of the Suns’ issues with their thin bench will get alleviated once Beal is healthy enough to play. Then, they’ll be able to stagger their lineups so that at least one of their top four players are on the court at all times.
Even before they get to full strength, the Suns could very well have enough high-end firepower to render any concerns moot. Booker and Durant, who led a 9-0 run to end the half and combined for 50 points, are that special.
Stopping Booker
The Warriors shouldn’t have major issues slowing down opposing wings. At least when Green returns, they have the personnel to limit just about any elite scorer.
Devin Booker might just be a little different.
At this stage of his career, Booker might be the purest scorer in the league. He drilled nine of his first 11 shots and at one point early on had outscored the entire Warriors team. The 26-year-old’s shot chart included buckets from every level of the court.
The Warriors tried Curry on Booker (though probably not intentionally). They brought Gary Payton II into the game probably earlier than planned to try to get the three-time All-Star out of his rhythm. Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson got cracks at him, and Jonathan Kuminga — much better as an on-ball defender — drew the assignment for much of the second half.
Booker’s at-the-rim game is as refined as it has ever been, and his straight-line drives appear impossible to impede. Give him too much room, and he’ll bury any jumper. Take up his airspace and he’s at the cup in one dribble.
And then with Kuminga in his grill off a pick late in the game, Booker found Eric Gordon for a back-breaking 3. The next possession, he dialed up a dime in the pick and roll against intense Payton II defense. Yeah, he can pass, too.
Booker didn’t blink twice at any Warrior in front of him as he racked up 32 points, eight assists and six rebounds. How much that could change with Green masterminding the Warriors’ defense will be fascinating to chart.
