ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Utah Jazz (29-34) were in town to face the Golden State Warriors (56-6), who survived a scare from the Orlando Magic two nights ago and set a record for the most consecutive home victories in a row, 45, breaking the previous record by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
The Warriors listed Andre Iguodala as questionable. Festus Ezeli was out due to recent knee surgery, although we reported on Snapchat and Twitter that he was seen shooting around.
The Jazz were without Rodney Hood (low back soreness), Alec Burks (fractured fibula), Dante Exum (ACL), and Tibor Pleiss (D-League assignment).
1st Quarter – Steph Can’t Hit, But He Can Certainly Pass
Draymond Green two quick turnovers on horrible passes, and Rudy Gobert got a couple of offensive rebounds against Andrew Bogut, but the Jazz weren’t able to take full advantage.
The Warriors’ first bucket was of the razzle-dazzle variety, as Curry deflected a pass from Chris Johnson up top, led the break, and delivered this beautiful lefty behind-the-back pass to Green for the dunk:
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Down just 5-2 early on, Bogut got a two-hand dunk off an alley-oop from a side-out that went to Stephen Curry at the top:
Bogut lob! (@csnauthentic) pic.twitter.com/xJAwdyA7zM
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 10, 2016
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Shortly thereafter, Bogut got another one as Curry saw the backdoor cut and lofted a two-handed chest pass perfectly over his defender Shlevin Mack for the righty one-hander:
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Gordon Hayward tried to answer with a three but shot it way too hard, and the Warriors made the Jazz pay as Klay Thompson drilled a three from the left stripe.
Utah head coach Quin Snyder called timeout as Golden State went ahead, 9-5, with 8:12 remaining.
After the timeout, Curry dissected the left side of the Jazz defense and found Green with a lefty sling pass for a three from the left arc.
Green found Bogut in the post, then after feeding Bogut, set a pick for Klay Thompson, who curled up, received the pass from Bogut, and drilled a triple from the right wing.
Steph couldn’t hit from beyond, going 0-for-4 in the quarter, but did tally six assists as he found Anderson Varejao for a rare jumper, then assisted Leandro Barbosa on a fast break layup.
But the Jazz stuck around, as Hayward got a two-handed dunk down the lane on a faulty rotation by Golden State, and withstood great passing as Steph found Varejao, who found Andre Iguodala who found Barbosa cutting:
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However, that was answered by a Raulzinho Neto baseline triple at the shotclock buzzer.
Harrison Barnes finished a play with a strong step to the hoop and a lefty scoop off of even more passing…
Coach Kerr always approves of this type of passing: pic.twitter.com/sP0PRTBA2x
— KNBR (@KNBR) March 10, 2016
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…but Trevor Booker came back with a bucket inside over Barnes and Iguodala’s buzzer-beater from downtown missed, Barnes got the offensive rebound, but also missed back-rim just before the quarter ended.
Curry was scoreless in the quarter, Klay led with 6 points, and Hayward had 5 points for the Jazz, who outrebounded the Warriors, 14-9.
2nd Quarter – Chef Curry Strikes Again
Marreese Speights got the call to start the second period and immediately chalked up a charge against Joe Ingles, but Ingles came back with a three and Utah had a 26-25 lead with 8:58 to play as Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout.
Out of the timeout, Thompson deflected a cross-court pass that went off the Jazz, and that sparked an 8-0 run as Speights drained a jumper from up top, then got a dunk cutting to the middle as Shaun Livingston worked the left block…
.@shaunlivingston dimes @Mospeights16 on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/myWH4m5Ybk
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 10, 2016
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…then posted up himself on the same left block and turned an entry pass by Draymond into a spinning bucket inside.
After Mack made a bad pass that was stolen by Livingston, Livingston posted up on the pinch and made a turnaround jumper as Golden State took a 34-28 lead with 6:58. Snyder called another timeout.
Barnes missed a layup, but eventually Green got a layup to “toilet-bowl” in on a nice feed by Speights and the Warriors’ defense stepped up as Livingston partially blocked an attack by Neto, Barnes forced a shotclock violation as he dove for the ball on Trey Burke on the perimeter, and Green swatted a layup attempt by Burke:
Michigan State on Michigan crime. #Warriors lead the #Jazz 41-36 in Q2. pic.twitter.com/zZqc3F3j36
— KNBR (@KNBR) March 10, 2016
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After Curry checked back in, Draymond deflected the ball away from Mack, but Klay turned the ball right back and later missed a three.
Hayward got fouled twice in a row and drained four straight from the charity stripe, then Curry finally hit a three over Burke…
.@stephencurry30 gets on the board in style. (@csnauthentic) pic.twitter.com/Ug1jt2mHR2
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 10, 2016
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…as Kerr went with small-ball with Curry, Thompson, Livingston, Iguodala, and Green — Draymond guarding Gobert. WIth 2:10 remaining, the Warriors held a slim 41-36 lead.
Both teams traded buckets down the stretch, as Burke hit a three, Steph dribbled down the lane to feed Green with a lefty pass, his eighth assist, Ingles hit Burke on a backdoor in response, and Barnes drove hard left baseline to give a lefty sling pass to Curry for three from the top.
Out of a timeout under a minute, Klay drilled a triple from the top off pick-and-roll action with Draymond, who then made a great close-out to disrupt Ingles’ three from the left wing.
Steph snagged the rebound and heaved another from the edge of the center-court logo, still in the backcourt, and at the buzzer, the 50-footer banked in!
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Curry ran to the tunnel as if to say, “No way are you going to wave that off, refs!”
The refs did review the shot and it was well before the buzzer and red light.
That gave Curry 9 points, while Thompson led the Warriors with 11. Golden State amassed 18 assists on 22 made field goals, all evenly distributed.
Meanwhile, Hayward led the Jazz with 9 points, Gobert had 9 rebounds, and Mack had 4 assists. Burke had 7 points off the bench.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @thebest_bj)
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