It’s a good thing for Harrison Barnes his runner in the lane bounced and fell through with 0.4 seconds left, capping a chaotic final 30 seconds to last night’s Suns-Warriors game. Phoenix is now all but mathematically done for the final Western Conference playoff spot, and the Warriors continue their current 11-game winning streak. Barnes simply avoided being the goat.
Barnes had to sink the game-winner. He needed to atone for his two brain farts with under 30 seconds to play. Both gave Phoenix buckets. First, he forgot to show on the baseline when Andrew Bogut gave PJ Tucker the lane for the layup to give Phoenix a 104-102 lead with 26 seconds left:
Then there was Eric Bledsoe’s reverse layup to put Phoenix up 106-105 with five seconds left. Barnes was guarding Markieff Morris near the far elbow, and he was supposed to switch down to grab Bledsoe when he curled around Morris towards the basket. It was a well-designed play, but it’s on Barnes to help the trailing Klay:
“Coach (Steve) Kerr kind of looked at me after I made the shot like, `You messed up on those two defensive possessions, but it’s OK,”‘ Barnes said with a laugh after the game.
There’s a lot of laughter for the team with the best record in the NBA, even when they almost cost themselves a winnable game at home against an overmatched opponent.
