box score
SAN FRANCISCO – Between the Warriors and the Utah Jazz, one team needed to snap a three-game losing streak Monday night at the Chase Center.
Advertisement
Luckily for home fans, the team that got back into the win column was the Warriors, defeating the Jazz 134-117.
The scoring was spread up and down the Warriors. Steph Curry scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-24 shooting and has now scored at least 30 points in five of his last six games. Sneaker The free agent played in Nikes, his first game since 2013, wearing a pair of IONESCREW Sabrina 3s with Bay Area native and New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu in the building.
Jimmy Butler scored an efficient 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting, and Buddy Hield dropped a season-high 20 points off the bench on 8 of 13 shooting and 4 of 8 from deep, while also adding five rebounds and four assists.
Advertisement
The Jazz started the game leading 11–0 as the Warriors missed their first six shots, including five 3-pointers. Each team then used their own extended runs in the first half, as the Warriors played a great second quarter and had a very strong third quarter, giving them a 22-point lead heading into the fourth.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ blowout win.
GP2 has received initial approval
On a night when Golden State was without Draymond Green and Al Horford, how did Steve Kerr handle an already small Warriors team against the much larger Jazz? Of course, putting 6-foot-2 Gary Payton II over 7-foot Lauri Markkanen to start the game.
Advertisement
Payton did all the little things right from the start (without going overboard) that make him so valuable in certain matchups. He was cutting behind Utah’s defense, grabbing rebounds and moving the ball quickly. The Warriors’ first three shots were assisted by Payton.
Standing 10 inches shorter than Markkanen and still frustrating him was just part of Payton’s game. Payton scored nine points in 21 minutes, came down with six rebounds and dished out a career-high eight assists.
Oh, and Markkanen went just 6 of 15 from the field, and made one of his five 3-point attempts.
18-0 run…without Steph
The goal is to stay afloat while the curry sits. To keep the game within reach, hang in there if possible and win by as much margin as possible. Another way to win non-Staff minutes is to go on an 18-0 run without him.
Advertisement
And that’s exactly what the Warriors did in the second quarter.
The Warriors entered the second quarter down by nine points, losing 35–26. They then went ahead 44-35 when Curry came back at the 7:13 mark to take a nine-point lead after trailing by nine points. The points came from four different players: Moody (eight), Butler (four), Quinton Post (three) and Will Richard (three).
Those four players, and Pat Spencer, were on the field for runs. A Curry three then made the score 21–0, before a Kyle Filipowski three finally ended the Jazz’s scoring drought.
Curry still scored eight points in seven minutes in the second quarter, but it was all about what the Warriors were able to do without him. His teammates scored 33 points in the second quarter, which would be 13 points more than the Jazz.
message received
An angry Kerr called a timeout with a little less than two minutes left in the first quarter after another open 3-pointer by Jazz guard Keyontae George. Kerr was clapping his hands and letting his team do the same. In particular, the message appears to be aimed at Brandin Podziemski, who tried to blame a teammate for George’s corner three when he defended nothing but open space.
Advertisement
The defense, on a night when the Warriors did not have Green as their point guard, was missing in action from the beginning. The Jazz shot 61.9 percent from the field in the first quarter (13 of 21), and went 7 of 10 on threes. George scored 15 points alone, two less than the Warriors’ starters.
Kerr kept Podziemski in for the remainder of the quarter, but then replaced him to start the second quarter, where he remained for the rest of the first half. In fact, Podziemski didn’t return until a little less than seven minutes remained in the third quarter. At that time he was at minus-10 with two points.
After the Jazz started the scoring from downtown, they were held to 4 of 25 (16 percent) the rest of the game, and Podziemski finished as a minus-2 with six points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 18 minutes.
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast
<a href=