The Phoenix Suns showed their physicality in the second half of a dominant 134-105 win against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. Suns star Deandre Ayton summed up their performance perfectly.

“We set the tone with the legal physical limit. It got to them,” Ayton told reporters after the game, via NBC Sports’ Eduardo Razo. “And teams don’t like that. When you keep hitting, you know, hitting people over and over, especially to the legal limit, people get frustrated and they complain to the refs … But we stayed here and I was really proud of that.”

The Suns held a 72-66 lead at halftime, but they turned on the jets in the second half, outscoring the Warriors, 62-39. 

The win was huge for Ayton and the Suns. It improved their record to 3-1 and 7-5 in their last 12 against Golden State. For a team that went winless against the Warriors between 2015 and 2019, that is encouraging. 

But more importantly, the victory allowed the Suns to show the ability to adapt their style of play midgame. 

“That showed a lot of growth because last year, I think we would’ve kept going back and forth throughout that game it was one of those games where them dudes wanted us to go back and forth with baskets and they end up taking over the game later in the long stretch,” Ayton added. “So we definitely put them away.”

The game was described as having a playoff feel, full of physicality and the surge by the Suns to turn the game on its head. Perhaps this is the year they could see this in a real playoff series after the long-awaited matchup never occurred.