PHOENIX — You’re always going to get a few of these out of Jalen Green, and boy did the Phoenix Suns get the best timing possible for one of his scoring explosions.
Green produced 36 points in 40 minutes on 14-of-20 shooting with eight 3s and played great defense to boot in the Suns’ 111-96 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday to advance past the play-in tournament and take the eight seed in the playoffs.
They will face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, beginning Sunday, with tip-off coming 39 hours after Friday’s game concluded.
“Excited man, playoffs back in the Valley,” Devin Booker said. “I missed it. I’m happy we’re here, and we have a young team [so to get the experience and] the preparation for it — what’s a better test for us than the defending champions?”
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Jalen Green hits 8 3s, puts Suns on his back to beat Warriors, clinch playoffs
In a game of this magnitude that deserves the usual deep dive into all the details within how it unfolded, getting that much-needed inbound playoff experience simply came down to Green.
The flamethrower nature of his play through the hit-or-miss volatility that has been present in Phoenix just as much as it was in Houston could not have been more of a factor in a win-or-go-home format.
And this has been a tough year to fully judge him on. Green missed the first half of the year due to injury and went through a challenging reintegration process just as the team’s quality of play dipped in a major way. Anyone would have struggled with that, even an all-time great.
“It’s hard. You miss months on in and to stay in tune with it, stay locked in and deliver in the most crucial part of the season is big time,” Booker said of Green.
The opponent meant something extra for Green.
He had this exact kind of performance in Game 2 of the first round against the Warriors last year, with eight 3s fueling 38 points. But he was a non-factor in the other five games and had a lot to prove after that.
“I for sure brought some of that energy from last year into tonight’s game, and we capitalized,” Green said.
“He stepped up to the test. I know the last playoffs have been sticking with him,” Booker said.
Much like the Suns just had to wear a terrible Dillon Brooks outing, 4-of-14 shooting with five turnovers, the lows can be worth it because the highs will also be there.
Green’s high advanced the Suns to the playoffs.
His points by quarter were six, eight, 13 and nine. The impact of his scoring was constant and flashed the most when things started getting hairy for Phoenix.
After a putrid second quarter from Phoenix was nearly finished, Green hit a ridiculous fallaway in the corner just before the buzzer for his fifth triple to put the Suns ahead by five after they led by 18 through one quarter.
He then assisted a Brooks 3 and hit his own early in the third quarter for a massive 6-0 swing to stabilize the Suns back to an 11-point lead.
Less than 90 seconds later, Green drilled his seventh trey-ball. After a minute passed, he assisted an O’Neale layup and then three minutes later, triple No. 8 went down.
One more Green score on a drive concluded those 13 points in the third quarter that was 28-24 Suns for a nine-point lead. Without that Green contribution, Golden State takes control of the game or at least keeps it tight.
Much of the concern for Phoenix in this contest was just that, a close one late, where the Suns have continuously spiraled and where Golden State’s prowess shines the most.
Green hit a middy less than a minute into the final frame, and once the Warriors knocked down a trio of 3s that included two from a very-off Stephen Curry to pull within seven, Green scored seven straight that reassured everyone this would not be a repeat of several crunch-time meltdowns the past six weeks.
While there was still 7:16 left with the Suns up 92-78, Phoenix’s fantastic effort defending a fairly gassed Curry drastically limited the Warriors’ offensive options.
They took a season-low 14 3s in the first half as Phoenix kept chasing everyone off the line. That is most prominently Curry, who, coming off a battle on Wednesday in L.A., would have to drive every single possession at 38 years old to benefit from what the Suns were doing.
Curry didn’t have the burst or lift for that, and barely had enough energy to get downhill just once in those do-or-die possessions for the fourth quarter.
Golden State was forced to rely on its tight-window passing on cuts and slips toward the basket, leaning way too much on the likes of Brandin Podziemski (23 points, 9-of-17) and De’Anthony Melton (16 points, 5-of-10) for other individual offense.
A gigantic part of that effort on Curry was Jordan Goodwin taking on the primary assignment and a starting Oso Ighodaro, whom Curry sought out on switches in the first half and could find zero operating room when going at the versatile big man.
Golden State hit a few 3s to get closer in the mid- to late fourth quarter but nothing to draw the game out any further.
Goodwin was exceptional, providing 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and six steals on 7-of-11 shooting. He and Green were easily the Suns’ two best players.
“Massive, [on] both ends,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said of Goodwin’s outing.
The Warriors turned it over 21 times, and while the Suns had 15 of their own, Phoenix dominated points off turnovers, 30-10. A lot of that fueled the Suns’ large lead in the opening quarter that Green kept cushy enough the rest of the way.
Booker was fine. He was 5-of-12 for 20 points, six rebounds, eight assists and a turnover. Green’s spurts prevented him from having to force it at any point, and Golden State largely trapped him on the night.
Like Curry, Booker didn’t have his burst most of the night in creating separation. That does not bode well for Oklahoma City, easily the opponent he has played the worst against over his career.
Mark Williams (left foot soreness) was out, and with Ighodaro taking his spot, the Suns initially gave rookie Khaman Maluach five minutes while Curry rested. They then shifted to using Haywood Highsmith as a small-ball 5 the rest of the way for the non-Ighodaro minutes. Highsmith played 10 minutes and missed all three of his shots but was +8 via his usual great work defensively.
Grayson Allen (left hamstring strain) was ruled as available but didn’t play. If you sniff, you’ll smell some tomfoolery and subterfuge.
Curry was 4-of-16 and 3-for-10 from 3. He, Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr shared a moment together near the end of the game.
Kerr has had health problems at times during his Warriors tenure and has made it no secret he’s been feeling fatigue with the year-to-year grind 14 years in. He told reporters postgame that he doesn’t know if he will be returning to coach Golden State at the end of the year.
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