Phoenix Rises Over Depleted Warriors 122-109
PHOENIX (CBS/AP) -- Goran Dragic scored 13 of his career-high 34 points in the final seven minutes and the Phoenix Suns pulled away to beat the depleted Golden State Warriors 122-109 on Saturday night.
Dragic, who also had 10 assists, topped 30 points for the sixth time this season as the Suns (30-20) pulled a half-game ahead of the Warriors (30-21) for the sixth-best record in the Western Conference.
Gerald Green added 25 points and P.J. Tucker had 16 points and a career-best 15 rebounds for Phoenix.
Stephen Curry had 28 points and nine assists and Harrison Barnes scored 23 points for the Warriors, who were without front-line starters Andrew Bogut and David Lee.
Both missed their second straight game, Bogut with left shoulder inflammation, Lee with a left shoulder sprain and left hip strain.
Dragic, left out of the All-Star game, made 10 of 13 shots. He tied his career best for 3-pointers made with six, in seven attempts.
Phoenix took the lead for good with the last basket of the opening quarter and was up by as many as 14 in the third but Curry kept the Warriors close. Golden State twice cut it to two in the final quarter, the last time at 102-100 on Jermaine O'Neal's tip-in with 7:55 to play.
Dragic sank two 3s in an 11-2 run that finally put the Suns in control for good, 113-102 on Tucker's basket with just under four minutes to play.
Phoenix outscored Golden State 20-9 over the final 7:33.
The Suns opened the second half with a 13-3 run, taking a 76-62 lead on Tucker's 3-pointer, but Curry scored four and Barnes hit a 3 in a 7-0 spurt that cut it to 78-71 with six minutes left in the third quarter. Golden State outscored the Suns 11-4 over the final two minutes of the quarter to slice Phoenix's lead to 95-90 entering the fourth.
Phoenix led most of the first half but never by more than nine points.
Tucker's four-point play capped an 8-0 spurt that put the Suns up 47-39 with 5:11 left in the half. Dragic's 3-pointer gave Phoenix its biggest lead of the half, 50-41, with 5:07 to play. Consecutive baskets by Andre Iguodala cut it to 60-58 with 59 seconds to play and the Suns led 63-59 at the break.
Dragic and Curry played to a high-scoring standoff in the half. Dragic had 18 points and five assists. Curry had 16 points and five assists.
Without Bogut and Lee, the Warriors were outrebounded 26-15 in the first half and 45-34 for the game.
Notes: The Suns have won 10 in a row in games where Green scored at least 20 points. ... Both teams close out their pre-All Star game schedule at home against Miami, Phoenix on Tuesday and Golden State on Wednesday. ... The Warriors played on the road for only the second time in a stretch of 11 games.
© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.