1:01 a.m. ET
Kendra AndrewsESPN
SAN FRANCISCO — Ahead of Tuesday night’s game, the Golden State Warriors were confident that the return of Stephen Curry would be just what they needed to build on the momentum they had previously built on their homestand without him.
They finally had their best player back. Their starting lineup — the league’s best five-man unit — was complete for the first time since December 3. They faced an undermanned, struggling Phoenix Suns team.
Instead, the Warriors looked like a similar version of the team they were when Curry went down with a left shoulder subluxation and fell against the Suns 125-113.
“I think with Steph and [Andrew Wiggins] Back, we probably relaxed a little more than we should have,” said golden state guard Klay Thompson. “We figured if they showed up, we’d just get the dub.”
But both Curry and Wiggins need to shake off dust and it was obvious.
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Curry, who missed 11 games after suffering an injury on December 14, wore a shooting arm on his left arm, extending from his shoulder to his wrist. He said he came through the game physically well and didn’t think about his shoulder during the action – something crucial for him to be eligible to play.
On Friday, Curry had said he didn’t think his condition had been affected too much during his layoff and while playing 31 minutes on Tuesday night he admitted playing under a one-minute restriction was hampering his ability to find his rhythm.
Knowing he would only play certain stretches, he said there was some pressure to regain his form in limited time, which he tried to balance while playing in the flow of the game.
“It’s a godsend how much rust you’re going to have and how close you can get to the speed of the game,” Curry said. “In the first quarter it felt good just to be out there and running with our boys. … I felt like I got stronger as the game went on. … In the fourth, the intensity of the game increased. We played very desperately trying to come back and do some games. I felt like myself again.”
Curry scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. He shot 8 of 22 from the floor, including 5 of 15 of 3.
Wiggins, playing in his second game after an adductor strain and subsequent injury, finished the game on 10 points but did so on a 5-of-16 shooting and lacked the aggression and rhythm he had prior to his absence .
Thompson started the night with 14 of his 29 points in the first quarter and then cooled off. In his first game since coming off the bench on December 3, Jordan Poole scored 27 points.
With just over four minutes into the game, Curry hit three consecutive 3-pointers to breathe life back into the Warriors. Three minutes later, a layup by Poole, a stop, a Poole 3 and another stop had put the Warriors to sixth after falling down to 27.
After the time-out, Curry was called for a foul, putting Damion Lee on the line and giving the Suns a three-ball lead. After all, those free throws were the dagger.
“I hope the fourth quarter was the team that I got to know, love and recognize,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “But we have to show ourselves in the first quarter, not the fourth.”
The fourth quarter, Curry said, illustrated the “level of focus, togetherness, toughness and high IQ basketball” that the Warriors hold on to and what they know to win.
But the first three quarters saw the Warriors’ offense disjointed and their defense almost nonexistent. Phoenix, without Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne, closed out the first quarter on a 10-0 run and led by 14 points at halftime.
“I have to give better [the Warriors] the slap in the face that Phoenix gave us,” Kerr said. “One team is emotionally ahead like Phoenix and they set the tone straight away. That’s all it takes.”
Both Kerr and Thompson said Tuesday’s contest must remind the Warriors that no matter how healthy their roster or how exhausted their opponent’s, there are no easy games in the NBA.
“You need a wake-up call,” Kerr said. “You have to understand how committed you are to each other, to the game that it takes to win a title.”
This isn’t just a reminder of the Warriors’ younger players and two-wayers, whom Kerr pointed out for not playing Phoenix, but of their multi-championship-winning veterans.
But having just played their 41st game of the season — the official halftime mark — there were other memories, other games, after which the Warriors shared a similar feeling: that they understood they weren’t up to their standard.
“We talked about it for a long time,” Curry said. “You have to do it sometime or time will run out. … We have 41 games to find out – or we won’t.”