Warriors 111, Suns 107
PHOENIX -- Before Friday's game with lowly Phoenix, Golden State coach Mark Jackson was asked if he worried about his team overlooking the struggling Suns.
"We're not good enough to look ahead," Jackson said.
The first half proved Jackson's point perfectly, as Golden State fell behind 17 points and gave up 64 points to the offense-challenged Suns.
But the Warriors outscored the Suns 32-14 in the third quarter, regained control of the game and held on late for a 111-107 win.
Klay Thompson had 15 of his 25 points in the third quarter, while David Lee (22, points, 14 rebounds) and Stephen Curry (18 points, 15 assists) added double doubles for the Warriors -- who maintained their slim lead over Houston for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.
Goran Dragic had a game-high 32 points on 11-for-13 shooting and Michael Beasley added 25 points on 12-for-17 shooting for the Suns, who shot 61.1 percent from the field and still couldn't win.
They were within striking distance of the NBA record for the best shooting percentage by a losing team -- the Washington Wizards shot 63.4 percent in a 113-109 loss to Chicago on April 11, 2001 -- but missed several shots in the final minutes to cost them both infamy and the game.
Phoenix lost for the eighth straight time -- their worst losing streak in a season full of them -- and for the 12th time in the last 13 games. The good only news for the Suns is the loss allowed them to slip behind Cleveland -- who beat Boston on Friday -- for the third-worst record in the NBA, trailing only Orlando and Charlotte.
The Suns looked nothing like losers in the first half. Phoenix hit 14 of 22 shots in the first quarter -- Dragic and Beasley were a combined 8-for-9 -- in a season-best 37-point first quarter. Beasley capped the quarter with a 46-foot bank heave at the buzzer to give his team a 37-23 lead.
Phoenix pushed its lead to 17 on a Jared Dudley 3-pointer with 9:39 left in the half. But the Warriors immediately answered with a 14-2 run and drew within five at 46-41 when Curry stole the ball from Dragic, stumbled toward the 3-point line and still calmly sank a 25-footer with 6:10 to go.
The Suns regained their shooting touch to push the lead back to as many as 11 and Beasley finished off his 19-point half with an 11-footer with 1.5 seconds left to give Phoenix a 64-55 lead.
But the Warriors outscored the Suns 28-4 over the final 9:22 of the third quarter, turning a 70-59 deficit into an 87-76 lead. Phoenix kept making shots and kept coming back in the fourth, with Beasley 20-footer capping an 11-4 run and slicing the Golden State lead to 104-102 with 1:29 left.
But Beasley turned the ball over when Phoenix had a chance to tie and Jarrett Jack nailed a 3-pointer with 48.9 seconds left to give the Warriors a five-point lead.
NOTES: The Warriors haven't been in Phoenix since opening night, and it was a Halloween to remember and forget for Curry. He signed a four-year, $44 million contract extension in the afternoon and proceeded to go 2-for-14 from the floor and scored a season-low five points, although the Warriors won 87-85. ... Warriors coach Jackson on Lee's 23-point, 16-rebound effort in the win over New Orleans on Wednesday: "He was all over the floor and he got back to dominating on the boards. He's played a lot of minutes and tracked a lot of miles this year. It's good to see him get it back as we close this thing up." Phoenix coach Lindsey Hunter said Beasley's 13 points and strong defensive effort in Wednesday's 126-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers was "probably his best game of the season." The Warriors were looking to sweep the Suns for the first time since the 1976-77 season - the year after the Suns upset Rick Barry and the Warriors in the 1976 Western Conference Finals to go to their first ever NBA Finals. The Suns lost to Boston in six games.