MY ACCOUNT
It is very early in the season to describe any game as being akin to a playoff matchup but Tuesday’s meeting between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns has an extremely compelling case for receiving such a label.
The Warriors have been the class of the NBA to this point, their record of 18-2 the best in the league.
However, their title credentials will be sternly tested in Phoenix, where they will face a 17-3 Suns team looking excellently placed to go one better in 2021-22 after losing in the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks last season.
The matchup between the two Pacific Division rivals will mark the first time in NBA history that two teams with a winning percentage of 85 or higher after a minimum of 20 games have faced each other.
In that sense, it is big as stages get in late November in the NBA, and the Warriors boast a player born to dominate such arenas in Stephen Curry.
Curry is enjoying another remarkable year, compiling a superb MVP resume after finishing third in the voting last term.
He is tied for the league lead in points per game (28.6) with former team-mate Kevin Durant, while his season-long plus-minus of 283 is comfortably the best in the NBA. Reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is a distant second on 197.
Curry’s 105 made three-pointers are 20 more than nearest challenger Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings, seven of those coming on Sunday in another spectacular showing to propel the Warriors past the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.
He will be the lead protagonist in what is likely to be a fascinating encounter between two excellent backcourts. With Klay Thompson still yet to return after two seasons lost to injury, Curry has received magnificent support from the emerging Jordan Poole, who has averaged 19.8 points per game this month and is one of five Warriors in the top 10 in plus-minus for November, illustrating the depth at their disposal.
Three Suns also reside in the top 10 of that list, including their two guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
Eleven-time All-Star Paul continues to defy Father Time and is again the Suns’ chief creative force after helping them come within two wins of an NBA title.
Meanwhile, shooting guard Booker is hitting a career-high 41 per cent of his three-point attempts, perhaps setting things up for an absorbing back and forth between him and the man most regard as the greatest shooter of all time.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Golden State Warriors – Draymond Green
With the vast majority of the attention on the enduring brilliance of MVP favourite Curry, it would be easy to overlook the contribution of Green, who has served as chief facilitator for the Warriors’ talisman.
Green has 106 assists to his name in the month of November. No other non-point guard has registered more.
Shooting a career-high 55.5 per cent from the field this season, Green is once again proving he can be a critical part of a potential championship team, and the Warriors will need him at his best on both ends of the floor to maximise their hopes of seeing off Phoenix.
Phoenix Suns – Chris Paul
From his time with the Clippers, through his prominent role in engrossing playoff battles between the Houston Rockets and the Warriors to his increasingly impressive spell with the Suns, matchups that see Paul go against Curry have long since been must-watch affairs.
The ‘point God’ has consistently been overshadowed by the shooting magic of Curry but, among your more conventional point guards, there is still arguably nobody better.
Paul leads the league with 10.1 assists per game this season, justifying the Suns’ decision to bring him back on a lucrative contract after their Finals agony of the previous campaign.
He must ensure the Suns’ offense outshines Curry and the Warriors this time around if Phoenix is to send an early message by knocking off Golden State.
KEY BATTLE – Can Warriors beat Ayton on the boards?
The Warriors have been among the best rebounding teams in the NBA this season.
Golden State have registered 47.1 rebounds per game, good for fifth in the league.
Meanwhile, the Suns rank 15th in the same category with 45.7, but do possess one of the top rebounders in the league in Deandre Ayton.
The Suns center is averaging 11.4 boards per game, the sixth-most in the NBA.
If the Warriors are to have the advantage on the glass in this one, they will need to find a way to mitigate Ayton’s impact.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Warriors prevailed 122-116 in the last meeting between the two teams, however, Golden State have won only one of their last four games against the Suns in Phoenix.
