VIVINT SMART HOME ARENA, SALT LAKE CITY, UT — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Utah Jazz, Game 4 of the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals.
The Warriors held a 60-52 lead at halftime.
Q3: Keeping Utah At Bay
Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson got the Warriors off on the right foot to start the third quarter with a couple buckets, but Rudy Gobert came alive and put in a reverse layup on a rebound of a missed three by Gordon Hayward.
But Draymond Green threw a touchdown pass on the inbound to Zaza Pachulia, prompting Jazz head coach Quin Snyder to put his hands on his head, exasperated, as that kept Utah at by, 66-56.
Gobert got an and-one against Pachulia down low, Shelvin Mack drew a foul on Thompson, and Stephen Curry came back with a double-clutch layup with a lot of body contact:
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[protected-iframe id=”40c8b953e436cb856763b55852cf96a3-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBAonTNT%2Fstatus%2F861771768502951936″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Later, Green added another three on the catch from the left arc, Klay found JaVale McGee on the bounce for a dunk, and Curry went with a reverse layup, but a Mack triple prompted Warriors head coach Mike Brown to call timeout with the Golden State lead trimmed to 80-73.
Out of the timeout, McGee got a bucket inside, then showed off the range as he hit a jumper as he ran pick-and-roll with Durant and KD got doubled:
[protected-iframe id=”5a958e628c195f6ace9a005e113337d9-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F861775249020407808″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Another reverse layup attempt by Curry got him to the line, with McGee tapping the ball in while it was still in the cylinder, and Brown used the break in the action to put in a small lineup consisting of Steph, Shaun Livingston, Matt Barnes, Andre Iguodala, and Green, countered by Snyder’s bench of Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, Joe Johnson, Joe Ingles, and Derrick Favors.
The gamble paid off as they switched with Draymond ending up covering Favors, Exum bricked a runner at the shotclock buzzer, and Curry immediately made the Jazz pay with a triple swished from the left arc as he toyed with a switched Favors:
[protected-iframe id=”7a16d950f8cca754c71cf3dced6143f4-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F861776238247129088″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Exum smoked a layup blowing past Steph down the left side, Curry held the ball for the last shot with a two-second differential between the game and shot clocks, got doubled with time winding down, fed Green in the middle, who fed Iguodala from the corner for three more at the shot clock buzzer:
[protected-iframe id=”129764ca4059f4bbfcc85e47310bc60a-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FKNBR%2Fstatus%2F861776780536954880″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Utah missed a three-quarter-court heave at the buzzer and Golden State marched into the final frame with a 93-79 lead.
Q4: Strong Close-Out
Green got a layup from Durant and later with a lineup of Livingston, Thompson, Barnes, Green, and David West, Livingston got a jumper off a spin and with 7:40 to play, the Warriors’ lead held steady at 100-83.
Later, after some empty possessions, West found Klay for a backdoor layup and with 6:40 to go, Snyder called timeout.
Out of the timeout, Exum and Thompson traded layups, and shortly thereafter, Klay drained a jumper assisted by Draymond, giving Green a triple-double as Golden State went up by 21, 106-85, with 5:07 left.
After Exum missed a three, Thompson struck again for three more on a swing pass by Draymond, and Jazz backup point guard Raul Neto pulled Durant to the floor, resulting in a one-shot foul on the make from Klay.
Gobert got an alley-oop, but Curry pulled up from beyond the arc and put a nail in the coffin with 4:00 remaining and the Warriors now back up, 113-87.
Brown brought in his mop-up crew with LIvingston, Ian Clark, Patrick McCaw, Barnes, and James McAdoo. Pachulia later took out Livingston.
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