Jazz Fall To Golden State In Final Game Before All-Star Break
Feb 12, 2019, 10:58 PM
OAKLAND, Calif. – The Utah Jazz played a tough game, but ultimately faded down the stretch to the class of the NBA, the Golden State Warriors in a 115-108 loss.
It was expected to be a game of high emotions considering that a couple of Warriors had mocked Jazz center Rudy Gobert for shedding tears after talking about his mother’s disappointment that he had not made the All-Star team.
Slow Start Dooms Jazz
The Jazz however, came out flat to start the game. They trailed the reigning champs 25-14 at the end of the first. The Warriors’ Kevin Durant was from the get-go as he totaled nine points in the opening period on 4-of-5 shooting.
As a team, the Jazz were poor shooting the ball with a field goal percentage of just 26.3 percent in the opening period.
Utah also struggled with ball control, turning the rock over eight times in the first.
While they were outscoring the Jazz, the Warriors weren’t lighting it up from long range as they usually do, making just one of their first nine 3-pointer attempts.
✅⏹⏹⏹#UTAatGSW | #TeamIsEverything pic.twitter.com/suAmw7os8u
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 13, 2019
That trend continued for the Warriors in the second quarter. The Jazz nearly caught them at 36-35, before Steph Curry broke the 3-point drought with back-to-back triples to give Golden State a 7-point cushion.
Overall, the Jazz played a much better second quarter and at halftime, trailed Golden State by a slim 3-point margin with the score at 47-44.
The Jazz caught the Warriors at 67-66 on a triple by Donovan Mitchell. It was Utah’s first lead since taking a 2-0 advantage at the start of the game.
tfw you make them learn your name pic.twitter.com/nNhllsBeWU
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 13, 2019
It didn’t last as Golden State’s Andre Iguodala immediately responded with a 3-pointer of his own.
From there, the two teams played back-and-forth basketball until Utah took a 3-point lead on a smooth floating layup by Raul Neto two seconds before the buzzer.
Closing the quarter strong 🏀🏀🏀 pic.twitter.com/rnfS8Q1vib
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 13, 2019
The Warriors quickly erased the lead and forced more back-and-forth action until they took an 11-point lead with less than four minutes remaining on a 20-4 run that happened in seemingly the blink of an eye.
The Jazz cut the lead to five, but Kevin Durant’s 3-pointer with a little more than a minute remaining essentially put the game out of reach.
The loss moved Utah to 32-25. The Jazz remained in sixth place in the Western conference playoff race.
Next Up
The game was the final contest before the All-Star break. The Jazz will return to regular season action on Feb. 22 when they travel to face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
