The Warriors fizzled out in the second half of their 134-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at Footprint Center.
Golden State only scored 39 points in the second half, and Suns big man Deandre Ayton might have revealed the reason for the Warriors losing gas in the last 24 minutes of the game.
Ayton stated rather than exchanging buckets with the Warriors, the Suns wanted to take a different approach and be physical.
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"[We] got to them," Ayton told reporters after the game. "And teams don't like that. When you keep hitting, you know, hitting people over and over, especially to the legal limit, people get frustrated and they complain to the refs ... But we stayed here and I was really proud of that.
"That showed a lot of growth because last year, I think we would've kept going back and forth throughout that game it was one of those games where them dudes wanted us to go back and forth with baskets and they end up taking over the game later in the long stretch. So we definitely put them away."
As Phoenix played a physical style of basketball, it began to wear down the Warriors' defense that is struggling early in the 2022-23 NBA season, giving up 72 points in the first half to the Suns and nearly giving up another 70-plus in the second.
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The game felt like both teams were playing in a playoff series, with two Western Conference heavyweights going at each other. Their next matchup will occur on Nov. 16, and there's no doubt many will be tuning in to see how the Warriors respond to the Suns' physicality.