ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Three nights after schooling the Blazers, the Golden State Warriors (24-4) were back at home to face the slow-paced Utah Jazz (18-10).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones, who was on D-League assignment. The Jazz were without Alec Burks (left ankle), Derrick Favors (rehab), and George Hill (sprained left big toe).
Q1: Zzzzzz
The game got off to a lethargic start, as both teams piled up empty possessions for nearly four minutes. It wasn’t until Stephen Curry managed to free himself up for a backdoor reverse layup past Dante Exum, missing but getting fouled in the process, before Golden State broke the ice with a 2-0 lead from the free throw line.
After a couple more empty possessions, Kevin Durant ran interference in transition with Zaza Pachulia and found a seam down the lane for a slam dunk:
[protected-iframe id=”95ffabf69519f26f905c0f9f314ba5c4-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBATV%2Fstatus%2F811420773172867073″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]At one point, both teams were shooting below 8% each, but JaVale McGee came in early as head coach Steve Kerr tried to shake up the game a little, and it almost worked.
McGee got a long rebound, dribbled up-court, changed direction with a behind-the-back dribble, but missed the long-stepping scoop, back-iron:
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Later, Durant drilled a jumper from Draymond Green in the post, Curry hit a leaning three on a catch from the left wing against Shelvin Mack…
[protected-iframe id=”5364e72ab013b3dce9e513d7514faaa4-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F811421129734619137″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]…which was his 1,700th career trey.
Mack then made a bad pass with Green smothered on him and Steph got the loose ball, went coast-to-coast, and finagled a reverse lay-in past the long Trey Lyles.
That gave the Warriors a 13-10 lead with 3:28 remaining.
With 2:03 to play, Ian Clark checked in and promptly made his favorite floater from the left baseline, assisted by a Curry jump-pass.
Steph added a crossover from the top that froze the Jazz defense, going down the lane for a finger roll, David West tipped in a later missed scoop by Curry, and, after a three by Joe Johnson, Mack threw up an airball against good defense by Andre Iguodala.
To end the quarter, Steph raced up the court, but tried to thread a pass through too many people. Iguodala managed to track down the ball in the paint, and threw up a blind behind-the-head banker at the buzzer.
The Warriors took a 19-15 lead into the second stanza. Curry led all scorers with 9 points.
Q2: Jumpshots/Klay Versus Rudy
Durant got the Warriors cooking to start the next quarter as he hit two straight dribble-and-pops.
Iguodala then splashed a triple assisted by Klay Thompson:
[protected-iframe id=”7b24953b00fd1b6f8defe4a8c39a6d4b-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F811424404928245760″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]After a turnover by Thompson on a bad catch, there was a TV timeout, and Rudy Gobert began to assert himself on the offensive glass.
Rodney Hood missed, but Gobert got the slam put-back. Then another put-back. Then an “and-one” on another offensive rebound against “KD” that closed the Jazz gap to 30-25.
Kerr took a timeout soon thereafter with 6:13 to go.
Out of the timeout, Klay got hot as he hit a right wing jumper on the catch…
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That gave the Warriors a 36-25 lead.
Gobert got his 11th rebound on yet another put-back, this time over Pachulia, but Steph found Klay for three more on a splash from the right arc…
[protected-iframe id=”460cc90eb399afdba751d88ba513dbae-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F811427861076680704″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]…and Jazz head coach Quin Snyder called timeout as Golden State edged out to a 39-27 lead with 3:54 left.
The Warriors closed out the half with Iguodala getting a steal, which led to a corner three by Thompson as he passed inside the Green and Draymond found Klay back outside.
Durant made a nice clean block on the ball on Lyles, but he ended up hitting him in the face for free throws.
Johnson missed against Green, leading to a rebound by Iguodala and an outlet to KD, who then got fouled in transition by Mack. The only problem for the Jazz was, the Warriors were in the penalty.
Meanwhile, Utah couldn’t get any field goals, although they were getting foul shots against Golden State. However, they weren’t making much from the line, either, and Draymond took a miss by Hood the length of the court for a dunk against the matador defense.
[protected-iframe id=”74c321e0c1be93786f4d9a19cddd3f7e-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F811429596386078720″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]That forced Snyder to call another timeout, but Green also got tagged for a technical for hanging on the rim too long, which seemed a little like head-hunting by the refs.
The Jazz continued their struggles as Mack turned the ball over on the inbound and Curry ended up with an inside catch from Green for an “and-one”…
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Joe Ingles got a nice lefty scoop banker after a Euro-step with six seconds remaining, but the damage had been done. The Warriors took a commanding 55-33 lead into halftime.
Golden State’s Big Three combined for 42 points on a combined 15-for-27, with Curry at 15, Thompson 13, and Durant 14. Green tallied 4 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
Gobert led the Jazz with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Three other players were tied at the next highest-point total of just five.
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