ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Utah Jazz (12-14) were in town to face the Golden State Warriors (26-1).
The Warriors were without Harrison Barnes, still recovering from his left sprained ankle, and Kevon Looney (hip surgery rehab), while the Jazz were without Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert due to injury. Andrew Bogut returned from back spasms and started for Golden State.
1st Quarter – In Control, But Turning The Ball Over Too Much
Three of the Warriors’ first five field goals were three-pointers, as Stephen Curry drilled his first try…
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…Brandon Rush followed that up with one wide-open, assisted by Draymond Green, and the third came from Klay Thompson, although that particular sequence got off to an auspicious start.
On this play, Derrick Favors made a terrible play and Curry made him look silly on the ensuing transition bucket, a model play of Curry’s trademark efficiency:
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Thompson, wearing a black elbow sleeve on his left arm, made a bad pass although the turnover was charged to Green, but Green raced back and anticipated Raul Neto’s 2-on-1 fastbreak bounce pass, outlet the ball to Curry, who found Klay waiting for a catch-and-shoot trey from the right corner:
#Warriors’ bread and butter, defense leads to offense: pic.twitter.com/VmgX9wvA3m
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 24, 2015
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Later, Andrew Bogut got his second back-tap offensive rebound of a missed Green three-point attempt, Draymond tracked the ball down on the deep left wing, then took some big steps on the dribble past the Jazz defense for a two-handed dunk:
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Festus Ezeli came in for Bogut and immediately scored on a cut, the assist delivered by Curry, and Thompson found himself matched up by the much smaller Trey Burke, posted him up on the right block, and drained the easy turnaround jumper:
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With 3:17 to go in the first, Utah head coach Quin Snyder called timeout and the Warriors held a 19-11 lead.
However, the game was marred by turnovers from both sides.
Curry made two in a row, but Burke missed a jumper, then threw the ball away himself. Thompson had a sideline pass to Green that went straight out of bounds as he anticipated a cut, but Draymond stayed put beyond the arc.
Ezeli ended the quarter with a block of Burke’s right side attack, which went off Burke’s back, then Steph responded, getting fouled on a drive down the right lane, scooping up a high finger roll that
The first frame ended with a whopping six turnovers committed by the Warriors and seven by the Jazz. Curry was guilty of three of Golden State’s. Still, the Dubs held the Jazz without a field goal for a stretch of 5:51 during the quarter.
Steph led all scorers with 9 points, while Klay had 7, and Bogut collected 5 boards.
2nd Quarter – Dray-Ups
Burke started the second stanza with seven straight points for the Jazz, but Leandro Barbosa countered with a drive and a jumper.
The Warriors suffered through six missed shots by the bench unit, which also included Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, and James McAdoo, as well as one turnover.
By the time Ezeli earned two free throws at the 7:08 mark, getting hacked by Jeff Withey inside and making both, Utah had cut the Golden State lead to just 30-27.
But in subbed Curry and before that, Thompson, then later Bogut for Ezeli, and the Dubs added seven more points unanswered.
After a nice up-fake and drive on the right past Joe Ingles, Klay found Draymond up top with a nifty righty behind-the-back bouncer from the right block. Green passed up the wide-open three, to the dismay of #Roaracle, but surprised the crowd as he drove in and found Thompson, who had retreated to the right corner:
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Klay drilled the open trey, Bogut got a putback, and Green found a cutting Livingston for a two-handed dunk, and Snyder had no choice but to burn a timeout with the Warriors stretching their lead back out to 39-27 with 4:58 remaining in the half.
Out of the timeout, Green added a scoop going down the lane, but Gordon Hayward finally ended the Utah drought on the other end with his first basket of the game, a fadeaway.
But Green added another dunk assisted by Bogut, then got a reverse layup on a fastbreak after Curry corralled an airball by Alec Burks from the other side of the rim and lead the charge:
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The Warriors held the Jazz to just 15-for-39 shooting (38.5%) en route to a commanding 47-38 halftime lead, committing just one of their eight turnovers in the second period.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @fontainepalooza)
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