Devin Booker scored 43 points as the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors 131-122 in Phoenix on Saturday, October 24, 2026. The Devin Booker 43 points performance set a Suns franchise record for a home opener, and Canadian guard Dillon Brooks added 15 points and 5 assists in the win.
Phoenix needed the response. The Suns had opened their season with a 41 point loss at Portland, and for one quarter this game looked like it might follow the same script, with Golden State leading 25-22 after the first. What followed was a statement win built on a huge third quarter and a star performance that the short handed Warriors could not match.
Devin Booker 43 points sets a Suns record
Booker finished with 43 points on 17 of 25 shooting, plus 7 rebounds and 7 assists, and he took the game over after halftime. He scored 17 points in the third quarter alone, including a four point play with 35 seconds left in the period that made it 99-89, as Phoenix outscored Golden State 45-38 in the quarter to seize control. The 43 points passed the previous Suns home opener record of 37, set by Charles Barkley against the Clippers on November 7, 1992.
The supporting cast kept the floor spaced around him. Miles Bridges added 16 points and 7 rebounds, Collin Gillespie ran the second unit with 11 points and 9 assists, and Luke Kennard scored 11 in his Suns debut after missing the opener with a knee injury. Phoenix shot 58 percent from the field as a team and scored 60 points in the paint, turning the game into a layup line once the Warriors’ defence bent toward Booker.
How the game turned, quarter by quarter
The box score shows a game that tilted in stages. Golden State took the first quarter 25-22 behind its fill in starters, then Phoenix won the second 35-29 to lead by three at the half despite shooting 1 of 12 from three point range early. The third quarter decided it: the Suns scored 45 points, their offence finally matching Booker with team flow, and a Jordan Goodwin three pointer just before the buzzer sent Phoenix into the fourth up 102-92. Golden State won the final quarter 30-29 and never stopped pushing, turning 19 offensive rebounds into 26 second chance points and making 17 three pointers, but the Suns answered every run with paint touches, finishing with 33 assists on 50 made field goals.
Dillon Brooks and the Suns close it out
For Canadian fans, the Dillon Brooks Suns Warriors storyline ran underneath the headline all night. The Mississauga guard started, played 33 minutes and finished with 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting with 5 assists, doing the connective work on both ends while Booker carried the scoring load. His driving layup with 2:38 remaining kept the lead at ten, 127-117, during Golden State’s last push, and Phoenix closed the game out from there.
The win was Phoenix’s fifth straight in a home opener and moved the Suns to 1-1. It also carried a small piece of recent history: the Suns knocked the Warriors out of the postseason last spring with a 111-96 play-in win, and this short handed rematch followed a similar pattern once Phoenix’s offence found its rhythm.
Warriors fall to 0-3 for first time since 2007
Golden State’s context explains the result without excusing it. The Warriors played their third game in four days and the second night of a back to back without Stephen Curry, held out for knee injury management, and without Brandin Podziemski, Draymond Green and Al Horford, all managing back issues. The fill in cast fought: rookie Yaxel Lendeborg scored 26 points with 9 rebounds and six three pointers, De’Anthony Melton scored 20 of his 25 in the second half, and Brandon Williams added 20.
It was not enough, and the record books noticed. At 0-3, the Warriors have started a season with three straight losses for the first time since 2007-08, when they lost their first six before recovering to finish 48-34. Both teams now travel: Phoenix visits Oklahoma City on October 26, and Golden State visits Denver the same night. For the Suns, the takeaway is simpler. When Booker plays at this level and the Canadians and role players around him hold their ends, the opening night blowout in Portland already looks like the exception rather than the rule.
