How do you explain the fact the Warriors sold out Oracle Arena in Oakland for the Suns' visit Wednesday night, two days after a better team -- the Spurs -- drew 1,500 fewer fans and sent the Golden State faithful home disappointed?
That's easy: Few things in San Francisco Bay Area sports provide more entertaining than a game against the Suns. The Warriors enjoyed their highest scoring quarter (43) and half (72) of the season Wednesday in a crowd-pleasing, 124-112 home win over the Suns.
The scoring frenzy was nothing new for a Warriors-Suns game in Oakland. The Warriors poured in 129 and 120 in two home wins over their Pacific Division rivals last season, with Monta Ellis averaging 34 points in those contests.
Two years ago, the Warriors had a 45-point first quarter (two more than Wednesday's early uprising) in a 124-119 track meet with the Suns in Oakland.
In fact, you have to go back to Nov. 10, 2003 to find a game in which Golden State failed to score 100 or more points against the Suns at Oracle Arena. The streak is now 10 straight, with the Warriors averaging 116.6 points in those contests.
The history of entertaining games against the Suns goes back much farther than 2003. One of the biggest games in Warriors history occurred with Phoenix in the building -- a 94-86 home loss to the Suns in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in 1976, a defeat the kept the 1975 champs from reaching the NBA Finals and possibly winning back-to-back titles.
Also, the Suns always seem to celebrate a homecoming of sorts when they visit Oakland. Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash all played for Bay Area colleges, and Wednesday's game not only featured Nash but also Jason Richardson, a fan favorite in Oakland before being dealt to Charlotte two summers ago.
The Suns will make one more Bay Area visit this season -- on Sunday, March 15. Good luck getting a ticket.
WARRIORS 124, SUNS 112: Interviewed on television immediately following the Warriors' win, Stephen Jackson admitted, "I'm surprised they didn't go to (Amare) Stoudemire more." No doubt, when Suns coach Terry Porter prepares for a rematch with Golden State in Phoenix on Friday, he'll try to figure out how the Warriors not only won the Kelenna Azubuike-Stoudemire matchup, but dominated it. Azubuike went outside on the big man in the first quarter and burned him for four three-pointers during a 19-point period as Golden State built 17-2 and 43-30 leads. Azubuike finished with 25 points, just five fewer than the combined total of Stoudemire (13) and Shaquille O'Neal (17), who had been expected to have their way against the smaller Golden State club. The Warriors can expect that duo to take more than just 17 shots Friday.
