ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — After five days off, the Golden State Warriors took the court again at home against the Utah Jazz.
FIRST QUARTER
It looked like the Dubs had been itching to play, as they got out to a quick 8-0 lead at the first timeout at 9:15. Klay Thompson got the #Roaracle crowd juiced as he hit a shotclock-buzzer-beating three-pointer. He and Draymond Green played catch as the Warriors were patient in the offense. Klay drove, then dished to Draymond, who drove, then dished back to Thompson, who drilled the three with the encouragement from the 24-clock.
Shortly thereafter, Andrew Bogut blocked Derrick Favors at the rim, then brought the ball up in transition and gave it back to a trailing Stephen Curry, who “toilet-bowled” the three-pointer in, much to the delight of the crowd.
Gordon Hayward could have been considered a spark plug for the Warriors, as he took two high-degree-of-difficulty fade-aways from near the top of the circle. On the first one, Green closed out, Hayward’s shot rimmed short, and Curry got the rebound and delivered a touchdown pass to Draymond, who dunked it ahead of Hayward’s chase.
The second near-identical shot by Hayward was one that Harrison Barnes actually closed out late on, but still managed to get a piece of. The airball fell into Green’s hands this time and he delivered the touchdown pass to Barnes.
Barnes harnessed that confidence and took Hayward strong off the dribble, going left-to-right into the lane, dropping in the layup from a high release point at the rim.
Curry even did a Eurostep for an early offense layup after Barnes rebounded a miss by Trey Burke.
Even Andre Iguodala got into the action. After subbing for Barnes at the 4:42 mark, he stopped and popped a three-pointer from weave action up top, then got one of two free throws to go near the end of the quarter to make it 28-11.
The Warriors finished the quarter with a 28-13 lead, holding the Jazz to 5-for-20 shooting. Out of the 11 field goals Golden State made, they assisted on 10 of them. Best of all, there was only one turnover for the entire team (by Curry). The Dubs also recorded 3 blocked shots.
SECOND QUARTER
In the second quarter, the Warriors toyed with the Jazz.
As has become the norm, Marreese Speights came off the bench and immediately impacted the game, getting his first jumper to fall from the left elbow, then converting inside on a nifty pass from Iguodala who faked his first pass while driving baseline, then fed Speights nicely for the easy dunk, making it 34-20 with 8:40 to go in the half.
Shaun Livingston, Thompson, and Bogut held up the fort until Curry’s return with 4:57 remaining. And when Curry returned, it was a clinic.
On one play, Curry wheeled back up around Bogut at the high pinch, as we have grown accustomed to. Bogut delivered a behind-the-back pass to Steph who was angling twoards the left elbow. Bogut then rolled to the hoop and Curry lobbed a high alley oop left-handed and over-the-shoulder to the Aussie who rammed it down with his right hand.
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Later, Curry waited and waited for something to develop in the motion offense and finally found Green open on the baseline block. After receiving the pass, Draymond gave a touch pass to Bogut nearby in the paint. It was a little behind him, so Bogut recovered, then took a power dribble into the teeth of the Jazz interior and easily scored.
A three-pointer by Green and a reverse dunk by Bogut on a line drive assist by Thompson helped the Warriors close out the half in dominant fashion, up 54-32 as the buzzer sounded.
Thompson led all scorers with 10 and Curry and Bogut each contributed 8, but what was more impressive were the Warriors’ 19 assists on 23 made field goals. Golden State also held Utah to 12-for-35 from the field (34.3%), for those measly 32 points. Incredibly, the Warriors had only committed 2 turnovers at the half.
THIRD QUARTER
The third quarter was much of the same, the Warriors doing to the young Jazz what the San Antonio Spurs had done to the Dubs back on November 11th.
- Green got a steal and assisted a fastbreak layup to a streaking Thompson.
- Bogut brought up the ball in early offense, gave a left-handed hesitation dribble against a dumbfounded Favors, and laid it up good lefty.
- Bogut got a lefty baby hook to go after a mini-crab-dribble against Enes Kanter, making it 66-43 with 8:00 to go.
- Speights got not one, but two, dunks from screen-and-roll action with Curry, the second of which was facilitated by Steph’s split of the double-team on the help on the pick.
The only downside were the Warriors turnovers, which were somewhat understandable given that the game had devolved into a scrimmage-like atmosphere. Curry committed two more turnovers and the Warriors had a grand total of four, all of them on Curry. Draymond would throw his hat into the ring, though, with a careless crossover. He stopped the Jazz impending fastbreak with an immediate foul.
The Warriors took an 85-57 lead into the fourth quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
The Warriors closed out the Jazz, wh ooffered no resistance, easily in the final frame. Festus Ezeli started the quarter, but didn’t get many touches.
More importantly, at least for the short-term, Iguodala got his groove back, ending the night with 17 points on 7-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Granted, it was against a Jazz lineup consisting of Dante Exum, Steve Novak, Ian Clark, Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert.
Justin Holiday and Brandon Rush checked in with 6:37 to play and the Warriors up, 94-67. Ognjen Kuzmic checked in for Ezeli, who missed on only one shot attempt in 7 minutes of burn, with under four minutes to go.
By the time it was all said and done, six Warriors finished in double-digits scoring. Iguodala led all scorers with his 17, Speights and Thompson added 14 apiece (Klay was 6-for-11 from the field and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc), Bogut had 12, and Green collected 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Curry tallied 8 points on 3-for-9 from the field, 2-for-6 from downtown, to go along with 5 rebounds, and 10 assists.
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