SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Earning road victories against other top NBA teams is quickly becoming a habit for Golden State.
Stephen Curry scored 28 points and had nine assists yesterday to help the Western Conference-leading Warriors to a 123-116 win over the Utah Jazz, who are third in the
conference.
The Warriors notched their second major road victory over an elite Western Conference foe in eight days, after beating second-place Phoenix.
“It’s a good confidence builder to be in these types of settings on the road and get wins like this and show who we are,” Curry said. “Our DNA is built on chasing championships and you got to win games like we have to get it done.”
Andrew Wiggins had 25 points for the Warriors, and Otto Porter Jr had 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Andre Iguodala added 12 points, eight assists and seven rebounds off the bench – including a late three-pointer to seal the win.
Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson all scored 20 points, and Rudy Gobert had 20 points and 19 rebounds in Utah’s seventh home loss.
Mitchell shot just four of 19 from the field for a season-low 21 per cent. It came a day after scoring a season-high 39 points against Minnesota.
“I liked a lot of the looks,” Mitchell said. “It’s the same shots I hit not even 24 hours ago… I can’t count many times the ball rolled in and out. Those nights are going to happen. It can’t go in every night.”
Golden State shot 53 per cent from the field before halftime and had a 14-point lead at the half, which Utah erased and then some (16-point deficit) in the third quarter with a 19-5 run.
Bogdanovic and O’Neale hit back-to-back three-pointers to punctuate the run, which put the Jazz up 79-74.
Utah scored 41 points in the third quarter – the most Golden State has given up during a single quarter this season. But the Warriors came back in the fourth quarter, scoring on seven consecutive possessions for an 111-106 lead. Wiggins led the charge with three straight baskets that finally put Golden State back in front.
“They did a great job of moving the ball, of getting up into us defensively and making us uncomfortable and controlled that third quarter,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “But that requires a lot of energy too. That lead we had at halftime forced them to really get after it in that third quarter and they did. But I thought we had more energy in the fourth as a result.”
Utah tied it at 111-111 on a three-pointer from Bogdanovic. Curry answered with back-to-back baskets and Iguodala added a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 119-112 lead with 40 seconds left.
“I thought we ran out of gas a little bit,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “When they’re scoring, it’s obviously much harder to run. That’s something that we know we need to do throughout the course of a game. I didn’t think we were committed to that on a possession-to-possession basis.”
The Warriors shot 53.5 per cent overall for the game, made 17 three-pointers and improved to 5-16 all-time in New Year’s Day games.
TIP INS
Golden State: Curry has now made at least one tjree-pointer in 158 consecutive games, setting a new NBA record. He eclipsed his own record of 157 straight games. Kevon Looney fouled out with 59.4 seconds left after totaling eight points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Golden State had 39 assists on 46 baskets.
Utah: Mitchell is 29 of 32 from the free-throw line in his last three games. He went 10-of-11 against Golden State but did not attempt a free throw in the fourth quarter. O’Neale finished with 15 points, scoring in double figures for just the second time in 13 games. He went scoreless against Minnesota on Friday after not attempting a shot or a free throw.
FINISHING STRONG
Golden State shot 13 of 18 from the field in the fourth quarter – 11 of those came off assists. The Warriors also committed only three turnovers in the final quarter to finish with a plus-12 point differential in the fourth after struggling to keep pace with Utah in the third quarter.
The Warriors missed just two shots over the final 10 minutes. Wiggins, Iguodala, and Porter all joined Curry in making critical baskets down the stretch.
“They’re talented and they’re gamers and they understand they’re going to have to play like that for us to do special things this year,” Curry said. “The opportunity is there. It’s just a matter of going through the reps.”
PRODUCTIVE PORTER
Porter made the most of his minutes in his third start of the season. He had his first 20-point game of the season while making a season-high nine field goals. The veteran forward also set a new season high in assists.
Porter is averaging 19.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.0 steals over Golden State’s last two road contests.
“He understands the game at such a deep level,” Kerr said.
