PHOENIX -- Come hell or high COVID, the NBA was determined to showcase its most appealing teams on Christmas Day. The league's two leading squads obliged, treating in-house yuletide revelers and a national audience to a stellar display of NBA basketball. The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns showed off the best version of their respective games in the Warriors' 116-107 win.
The Warriors did what the Warriors do. Stephen Curry handling, passing, relocating and bombing from distance, while Draymond Green served as the air traffic controller from the top of the floor, delivering laser passes to weakside cutters and rim runners. The Suns executed their pick-and-roll attack starring Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, found shooters on kickouts off penetration and enjoyed a heavy dose of Devin Booker creating off the dribble.
The matchup featured the NBA's two stingiest defenses, but this was a holiday feast for the offenses. Nobody ate more than Curry, who finished with 33 points despite not turning in his most efficient effort. Yet it was Otto Porter Jr. who provided dessert ... and the cognac. Porter hit three massive jumpers in the Warriors' final five possessions, scoring the game's final seven points.
"Otto took over," said Curry. Asked if he knew the journeyman was capable of such an outburst, Curry smiled.
"Don't disrespect him like that," he said. "That man can shoot the ball. I know he's been through a lot of injuries and all that, but he's been working his butt off since he got here this summer. And you could tell he does look confident -- confident and composed -- with what he was trying to do, getting to his spots and knocking them down."
Though this is the first season the success of the Warriors and Suns has coincided, they're quickly cultivating the Western Conference's premier rivalry. The old standard-bearer and new power are both standout teams, but Golden State and Phoenix have decidedly different on-court identities.
During their ascendancy that culminated in five consecutive trips to the Finals, the Warriors have been both revolutionaries and iconoclasts. They fashioned a defensive switching scheme that is now practiced throughout the league and crafted an offense that was a love child of the Motion Offense, the Triangle Offense and the Curry Offense. They shied away from the high pick-and-roll/spread game that dominates the current NBA (though short-handed, they ran a fair amount in the fourth quarter on Saturday). This season, the Warriors are dead last by an enormous margin in pick-and-rolls per possession, and apart from their two "gap years," they've never ranked higher than 29th during Steve Kerr's tenure as head coach.
The Suns haven't revolutionized or innovated the game, but they've taken existing trends and nearly perfected them. Their starting five includes all the essential organs that drive a well-tuned engine in today's NBA: The generation's most fluent pick-and-roll practitioner at point guard, an elite creator at the 2 who can shoot, drive and post, a prototypical young 3-and-D small forward who's adding to his floor game each month, a rugged 4-man who can guard multiple positions and an uber-athletic center who is mastering the choreography of the pick-and-roll under the guidance of said point guard. All of it is orchestrated by a head coach in Monty Williams who expertly manages the expectations of players and commands discipline and respect without being overbearing. Tactically, he's deftly developed packages that put his players in spots to maximize their strengths.
The Suns didn't turn in their best defensive performance on Christmas afternoon. They got burned on a number of back and baseline cuts, and Curry found space going to the basket when pressured off the 3-point line. Though Phoenix contained the Warriors on their switching coverages against the pick-and-roll, Curry generated good looks for himself and others off drag screens, particularly in the second half.
Then there was Porter, who controlled the game during the final three minutes. The Warriors demand that their shooters keep moving in the half-court, and Porter said that was his strategy when the offense broke down. He curled from sideline to sideline to drain a jumper to give the Warriors a 4-point lead with just over two minutes to play. On the next possession, he stepped up from the right corner to take a handoff from Green and power-dribbled his way to an open spot for another jumper. The coup de grace came seconds later, when on a play drawn up by head coach Steve Kerr in the huddle, Porter gave Curry a back screen, then zipped up to the arc to catch a pass from Green for the 3 to ice the game.
"I had shots I was able to knock down, just trying to find an open spot, moving," said Porter. "Coach drew up a couple of plays that freed me open and my teammates did a good job of finding me and I was able to step in and knock down some shots."
The win was particularly heartening for a Golden State team down two of their starters -- along with Klay Thompson, of course -- and three of their bench coaches. They handed crucial minutes to newcomer Quinndary Weatherspoon, who was called up from Santa Cruz in a pinch.
Asked if the Christmas Day win was the best of the season, Curry said, "I think all things considered, yeah. Nice to win on Christmas, nice to win on the road against the best record in the league, shorthanded. All the other context of the situation -- a huge win. Everybody stepped up."
Despite the pyrotechnics on Saturday, few teams want much to do with the Phoenix or Golden State defenses come spring. The Suns are aggressive and disciplined with a big man who's improving steadily, and the Warriors are, well, the Warriors -- a Green-led unit that contains at the point of attack through their switch and has elevated help defense to a science.
A postseason series between the two teams would be a treat: A cast of compelling players on each side, and reliable starting units who know precisely what they're looking for on both ends -- a true dance-off.
Such a matchup would also include Thompson, who hasn't played in an NBA game since June 13, 2019.
Prior to the game, while Curry wowed the early-arriving crowd in Phoenix with his patented warm-up routine, Thompson ran drills with the training staff. At half court, he sprinted most of the width of the floor, then stopped on a dime with the kind of force his game demands. Thompson performed the reps with a brooding intensity, nothing like the easygoing California kid who grew up with the Warriors.
Kerr joked pregame that Thompson has been anything but patient as his return date approaches, likely in the next few weeks. The Warriors themselves are antsy amid the growing, anticipatory buzz -- like kids before Christmas awaiting that coveted, wrapped present that's been stashed in the hall closet.