The Golden State Warriors are set to take a different approach to a back-to-back when they expect to welcome a rested Stephen Curry and Draymond Green back to the lineup for a rematch Monday night with the Phoenix Suns in San Francisco.
The Warriors and Suns met on Oct. 24 in Phoenix in a game in which Golden State coach Steve Kerr chose to give Curry, Green, Al Horford and Brandin Podziemski a break after all had played in a 111-108 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies the night before.
The Suns took advantage, riding 43 points from Devin Booker to a 131-122 victory.
The Pacific Division rivals have gone in opposite directions since then, with the Warriors having won four in a row, while the Suns have dropped both their games.
Phoenix hasn’t played since losing 127-120 at home to the Denver Nuggets on Friday. And once again, the Suns will catch the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back, with Golden State having defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 124-112 at home Sunday night.
Only this time, Kerr chose to give his two biggest stars a rest on the first night of the double dip, setting the stage for Curry and Green to face Phoenix in the rematch.
Asked why he opted to rest his veterans on the first night this time, Kerr insisted it had nothing to do with the quality of the opponents. The Clippers entered Sunday’s game in last place in the Pacific.
“Really I leave it up to Rick (Celebrini),” Kerr said of the club’s director of sports medicine and performance. “(After) talking to Steph and Dray, (Sunday) felt like the better day to give them some time to recover coming off (a three-game trip and Saturday’s home game against the Los Angeles Lakers).
“It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time. We’re literally taking things week-by-week and the guys are responding well. So we’ll see what happens next.”
Yaxel Lendeborg, who had 26 points in the loss at Phoenix, poured in a season-best 37 points in Golden State’s win over the Clippers. He connected on six 3-pointers, matching his season high. Lendeborg also knocked down six treys, while scoring 26 points in the previous game against the Suns.
Curry, meanwhile, enters the contest on a big-time roll. Even with sitting out Sunday, he was a candidate for NBA Player of the Week after having contributed 99 points to three straight wins. He hit 17 of his 33 (51.5%) 3-pointers in the games against Denver, Minnesota and the Lakers.
Booker, meanwhile, has cooled off some since his 43-point explosion against the Warriors. He’s totaled just 23 points on 8-for-26 (30.7%) shooting in losses to Oklahoma City and Denver.
The five-time All-Star noted in the wake of the defeat to the Nuggets that the Suns, who imported a key new piece this season in Miles Bridges, are still getting to know each other.
“We’ve been preaching we need to put a full game together,” he expressed to reporters. “We’ve played well in spots. I think if we can put together four quarters or even three, it’ll put us in a better situation.”
Bridges, who played for seven seasons in Charlotte, has improved his scoring and rebounding in each game. He recorded season-highs in points (24) and rebounds (10) in the loss to Denver.
