After being part of an offensive implosion in a double-overtime loss two nights earlier, Kevin Durant started Saturday’s game as if intent to help his teammates get shots. Durant had six first-half assists against the Phoenix Suns -- the most he has had in any half this season -- and helped the Golden State Warriors to the best shooting game in the NBA this season.
The Warriors finished 49-of-78 from the field (62.8 percent), including 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) on 3-pointers. Both of those shooting percentages were season highs for the Warriors. Their field goal percentage was the best by any team in a game this season. Their previous season highs for shooting came in the Warriors’ 149-106 win over the Lakers on Nov. 23.
The Warriors are the only team to shoot at least 60 percent this season, and they've done it twice.
The last time the Warriors shot better than 60 percent overall and on 3-pointers in the same game was in the Run TMC era -- Nov. 29, 1992, against the Rockets. Golden State is the first team to do it since the Pelicans in 2014.
Durant and Green effective with passing
Five of Durant’s six first-half assists led to open shots. He finished with eight assists, all in the first three quarters.
Draymond Green had 13 assists, and those two players’ passes accounted for 54 of the Warriors’ 108 points through three quarters, when the Warriors led the Suns by 24.
Golden State shot 84 percent off passes by Durant and Green, compared with 64 percent shooting off passes from anyone else.
Durant finished with eight assists, his second-most this season. He had nine at the Lakers two days after the Warriors’ 149-point game. He attempted seven shots Saturday, the fewest of any game in his career in which he played at least 12 minutes.
Curry and Thompson take advantage
Stephen Curry was 5-of-7 on 3-pointers, and Klay Thompson was 6-of-7 on 3s. Elias Sports Bureau research shows that Saturday’s game marked the 22nd time that both Curry and Thompson made at least five 3-point field goals in the same game. No other two teammates have more than four games of that kind.
It was a different story Thursday. Curry, Thompson and Durant attempted 22 of the 24 Warriors’ shots in clutch time but were ineffective: 7 of 22 (31.8 percent), including 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) on 3-pointers.
On Saturday, Curry scored 20 points in the third quarter, his second-most points in any quarter for him this season. It was his 13th 20-point quarter since the start of last season. No other player has more than four (Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers).
The Warriors already had the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season -- 149 in that November win over the Lakers -- and now they have the second-highest as well.