Klay Thompson's Huge First Half Powers the Warriors Past the Suns

• The Golden State Warriors registered an eighth straight home win against the Phoenix Suns
• Klay Thompson was impressive, scoring 33 points in the first half and finishing with 38 in total
• With the 123-112 win, the Warriors are now fifth in the Western Conference and have a 36-33 record

The Golden State Warriors registered their eighth straight home win, beating Western Conference contenders, the Phoenix Suns 123-112.

Klay Thompson was on fire, scoring a game-high 38 points, while Stephen Curry finished with 23 and Jordan Poole added 20.

Thompson torched the Suns with 33 points in the first half on 12-of-18 shooting from the field, including 8 of 12 from deep. He scored 16 of the Warriors' first 24 points.

The 33-year-old finished with 38 points on 14-of-23 from the field. However, he scored only five points in the second half.

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The Suns were without Kevin Durant, who is nursing an ankle injury. The veteran forward last played at Chase Center in February 2021, but there were no fans allowed at that time, per ESPN.

The victory bumps the defending NBA champions to 36-33. They are now fifth in the Western Conference standings and their 29-7 record at home is one of the best in the NBA.

What Thompson, Curry said postgame

Steve Kerr's team have a difficult road trip coming up. They face the Clippers, the Hawks, the Grizzlies, the Rockets, and the Mavericks in their next five games.

However, Curry was delighted with Thompson's performance:

"I love motivated Klay. You know, whatever it takes to get him locked in and focused, there's been a lot of chirping back and forth and the narratives around us playing Phoenix, him and [Devin Booker] and all that - two great scorers going at it," he said via NBC Sports.

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Thompson is optimistic about their chances on the road this time.

“I think we’re going to do it with these next five games. I think we’re gonna come out of this road trip with a lot of great momentum,” he said on the postgame podium.

“And although history this season has been not so good to us, I think it’s our time to ramp up our ability to win games,” he added via Clutchpoints.

The reigning champions have lost eight straight road games and their 7-26 road record is the fourth worst in the NBA.

Thompson makes history

Sports Brief earlier reported on Thompson scoring 42 points, including 12 three-pointers, as the Warriors won 116-101 over the Rockets, on February 24.

The four-time NBA champion also became the first player in history to make 12 3-pointers in multiple games in a season, both coming in the same month.

Since the turn of the new year, the five-time NBA All-Star is shooting an impressive 45.9 percent from three and 45.2 percent overall from the floor.