Devin Booker had 43 points, seven assists and seven rebounds and the host Phoenix Suns beat Golden State 131-122 on Saturday to send the Warriors to their worst start in almost two decades.
Miles Bridges scored 16 points and Dillon Brooks added 15 points for the Suns, who won their home opener after suffering a 41-point defeat at Portland in their season opener Wednesday.
Booker set a franchise record for points in a home opener.
Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg had 26 points and nine rebounds and De’Anthony Melton scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half for the skeleton-crew Warriors, who fell to 0-3 for the first time since 2007-08, when they lost their first six before finishing 48-34.
Golden State, playing the second of a back-to-back, was without starters Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski and Draymond Green and reserve Al Horford. Curry (knee), Podziemski (back) and Horford (back) were held out for injury management. Green missed with low back soreness.
Brandon Williams added 20 points for the Warriors, who blew a 12-point lead in the final four minutes of a 111-108 home loss to Memphis on Friday.
Lendeborg made six of the Warriors’ 17 3-pointers on Saturday. Melton had four.
Melton scored 13 points in the third quarter, when the Warriors used a 12-0 run to take a 73-71 lead before the Suns came back. Booker’s four-point play with 35 seconds left in the third quarter made it 99-89 for Phoenix.
Luke Kennard’s 3-pointer pushed the Suns’ lead to 117-102 with 6:07 remaining in the game.
Kennard had 11 points and three 3-pointers in his Suns debut after missing the season opener with a knee injury.
The Warriors made 17 of 39 3-pointers (43.6%) and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 26 points.
The Suns knocked the Warriors out of the postseason a year ago with a 111-96 victory in the play-in round.
Lendeborg had six points on a pair of threes and Graham Ike had six points and five rebounds in the first quarter, when the Warriors took an early seven-point lead and had a 25-22 edge at the quarter.
Ike, a 6-foot-9 rookie, made his second straight start at center as the Warriors also played without Kristaps Porzingis, who is not with the team because of an undisclosed health issue.
–Field Level Media
