ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Utah Jazz at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors held a 47-38 lead at halftime.
3rd Quarter – New Small-Ball
The Jazz kept the Warriors at bay in the third frame, with Utah trimming their deficit to just 50-44 on a Raul Neto crossover-one-legged jumper at the free throw line over Stephen Curry.
Golden State, however, had the highlight plays.
Late in the shotclock on a early possession where Andrew Bogut couldn’t find any open cutters, Klay Thompson drove the lane and got an “and-one” against Neto:
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Thompson also got a catch-and-shoot triple from the deep right wing, Curry added a pull-up jumper out of the weave play at the top, and Klay shaved Gordon Hayward off his pursuit by running past the top of Draymond Green, who had the ball.
Green got Thompson the ball in stride, but Klay missed the dunk, the ball going in and out.
The Jazz scored, but the Warriors came back with an alley-oop, a no-look pass, over-the-head lob from Curry to Andrew Bogut:
No look, no problem: pic.twitter.com/9dfruMoD4m
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 24, 2015
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After Bogut putback a missed drive by Leandro Barbosa, with 4:38 remaining in the third and up 49-39, Golden State interim head coach Luke Walton then removed Brandon Rush and Bogut from the squad on the floor and went with a small-ball lineup Ian Clark, Leandro Barbosa, and Andre Iguodala.
The Warriors outran the Jazz 19-9 to finish the third quarter, with an Iguodala fastbreak layup…
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…and Clark hitting two jumpers, the first on Curry’s eighth assist and the second from Shaun Livingston, who replaced Steph — who had missed three more threes to go 1-for-7 from downtown — with 44 ticks remaining.
Golden State took a 73-58 heading into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Cruisin’
Festus Ezeli subbed in and, once again, made an immediate impact, scoring a bucket inside and volleyball swatting Derrick Favors:
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Curry finally made a three from the left corner, Green’s fifth assist. Steph threw his hands up in the air in relief after the make.
Alec Burks then answered with his own three, but Livingston answered that with a cut to the hole on Green’s sixth assist, making the reverse layup while hanging a moment longer in the air to draw a foul.
Livingston’s “and-one” put the Warriors up, 89-76, with 5:35 to go.
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder took a flyer with a “Hack-a-Bogut” strategy, but Bogut made both free throws and Snyder quickly discarded that tactic.
Trey Burke missed a three, Livingston added another two points on the a turnaround on the right baseline, Favors missed again, and Curry found Green on the pick-and-roll slip down the left side.
Snyder called timeout again and the Warriors’ lead bulged to 95-78 with just 3:47 left.
Out of the timeout, Rodney Hood threw the ball away and Draymond tacked on a triple.
With 2:06 to play, Walton inserted Clark and James McAdoo for Curry and Green, Clark hit a three to chants of, “Warriors!” from the #Roaracle crowd, and Golden State topped Utah with a 103-85 final score.
Thompson led all scorers with 20 points on 6-for-16 field, 3-for-6 downtown, while Curry added 16 points, but shot just 5-for-14 from the floor to go along with 9 assists. Green tallied 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The Jazz committed 19 turnovers. Favors led Utah with 17 points, 9 rebounds, but Gordon Hayward scored just 8 points on 2-for-15 shooting.
The Warriors (27-1) will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in two days on Christmas.
Warriors fans are having fun though pic.twitter.com/8Y490si8Dd
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) December 24, 2015
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @dperk)
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