The Golden State Warriors (18-0) were at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, UT to face the Utah Jazz (8-7).
The Warriors were without Harrison Barnes (sprained left ankle) and Kevon Looney (hip surgery rehab) again. The Jazz were without Dante Exum (left ACL surgery).
1st Quarter – Grindin’
The first six minutes were tightly contested. Stephen Curry got off on the right foot, literally, as he got a catch-and-shoot three from the deep right wing as Andrew Bogut set him an off-ball screen at the top and Draymond Green delivered the assist:
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Curry also got a right jumper to swish…
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…and, even as Klay Thompson missed his first two shots, one a layup from a baseline out-of-bounds play and the other an open catch-and-shoot jumper, the Jazz’s Rodney Hood traveled on a jab step against Thompson and Rudy Gobert couldn’t catch a pass down low from Gordon Hayward.
Brandon Rush had a strong start as well, playing good close-out defense on Hayward, forcing him into a brick from the left wing that led to a Klay three-pointer from the left side after Curry got doubled and dished to a cutting Green.
After Bogut tipped in a Green miss, Rush drilled a triple from the left wing as the ball went to Bogut then to Thompson.
Rush even confidently shot a baseline turnaround fadeaway off the dribble that trickled out before the first timeout at 6:00 remaining, with the Warriors up, 13-11.
Things stayed tight still until the next TV timeout at 2:56, as neither team could break away from the other.
Gobert kept giving Utah extra possessions with offensive tips off misses, but the Jazz couldn’t take advantage of Warriors miscues such as an ill-advised behind-the-back pass attempt by Green on an attack down the right side of the lane. For example, Alec Burks would turn the ball right back with an illegal dribble off his leg.
Derrick Favors hit a nice fadeaway on a catch-and-shoot from the left wing, his third jumper made on the night, and Curry got a crossover past Raulzinho Neto and sneaked a little scoop shot past the 7’9”-wingspan of Gobert:
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At the TV timeout it was all tied up, 16-16.
The Warriors got a small bit of separation, pulling together a string of buckets that included a “tic-tac-toe” play from Andre Iguodala to Green to Festus Ezeli for a dunk, then Curry went past Burks, missed the layup, and Ezeli missed a tip-in, but Green got the next tip-in.
Shaun Livingston drew a foul and canned both from the line, and Golden State was up, 22-17.
Hayward answered with an impressive drive past Draymond for a fall-away banker, but Curry pushed the ball and found Green for an alley-oop of the layup variety.
With less than five seconds remaining, Ezeli made a rather poor inbound to Curry, who recovered with his super-human dexterity, passed the ball up to Green, who found Favors hounding him.
Draymond took the ball off the bounc down the sideline and right baseline to get a tough layup past Favors before the buzzer.
The Warriors took a 26-20 lead over the Jazz heading into the second stanza.
2nd Quarter – Clark Steps Up
The slugfest continued in the second quarter, Favors made another bucket then Hayward got a reverse, a floater, and a pull-up.
That was countered by Leandro Barbosa with another “Layup King” layup, Ezeli free throws, and a turnaround Livingston jumper, before Thompson checked back in and promptly got a jumper to drop as well as a putback of a missed lay-in facilitated by a cut and a nice pass from up top by Bogut.
With 6:40 to go before the half, Curry checked back in with the Warriors still up, 36-30. Not too long after, interim head coach Luke Walton rolled the dice with Ian Clark.
Burks stepped up for the Jazz, swishing a critical three-pointer from the deep left side as the shotclock buzzed, but Hayward’s zip pass went uncaught by his Jazz teammate again.
Then Curry one-upped Hayward, delivering a lefty sling pass from the left side to the awaiting Thompson on the right corner. Splash!
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— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) December 1, 2015
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Burks answered with a jumper, then Green missed a layup as Bogut pinned a defender in the lane and left the right side for Draymond.
Burks made the Warriors pay again, with a towering alley-oop to Gobert who made it look easy flushing it down at a near-vertical angle.
Green came back with a vengeance, but missed a dunk, corralled his own rebound after going out of bounds and coming back in, in the right corner, fed Clark, and Clark delivered a three-ball, right corner pocket!
That gave the Warriors their second try at a mini-separation, now up, 42-37.
Burks would make another turnover, epitomizing the Jazz’s youth and inexperience as their Achilles heel.
Clark came back with not one, not two, but three more triples, all on catch-and-shoots, two from the left corner and one from the right.
The two on the left came from Bogut…
RT @jspring9615 And a ?@LetsGoWarriors pic.twitter.com/iew7oO4NK0
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) December 1, 2015
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…and Green, and the third trey came off a pick-and-roll set with Green and Curry, with Draymond getting the assist on the roll.
He missed his fifth attempt, though, just before the half.
The Warriors took a slim 53-48 lead into halftime, with Clark’s 12 leading the way, Curry with 10, and Green with 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Hayward had 16 points and Gobert added 10 points and 6 rebounds.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @gametimelives)
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