Warriors win 19th straight, 106-103 over the Jazz

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors took the undefeated train on the road to Salt Lake City on Monday night to face the Utah Jazz.

“We’ve had some battles and, obviously, we’ve had some lopsided victories”, Curry said. “But we’re deep and it’s tough to get him out there”. “Just because we are 19-0 doesn’t mean we can just show up and blow teams out and guarantee a win…” The star point guard came up with multiple clutch 3-pointers and free throws late in the fourth quarter to fend off a feisty and young Jazz squad. And despite it all, the Jazz are probably streak-breakers if one Rodney Hood three goes down in the closing moments. Curry hit two free throws to seal the victory as Gordon Hayward’s half-courter at the buzzer fell way short. He finished with 25 points, while Al Horford added 21 points and 13 rebounds. “That’s a good shot for him….” When they saw me contesting shots, they pulled everybody in to get offensive rebounds.

Stephen Curry scored 19 points with the team’s great teamwork in the last game against Sacramento. The last Warriors player to record triple-doubles in consecutive games had been Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain in 1964. “Jazz” trended nationally on Twitter after the game, and I think a lot of observers were impressed with the team’s performance tonight. Alec Burks scored six straight and Favors gave the Jazz a 99-97 lead on a three-point play.

Warriors have outscored their opponents by +269 points, the most in National Basketball Association history through the season’s first 17 games (via @GSWStats). Derrick Favors is questionable due to personal reasons.

Curry hit three 3-pointers after he checked in at the 6:36 mark of the fourth quarter.

Utah is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games when playing Golden State. They were simply beaten by a better team, one of the best teams we’ve seen in some time. Couple mistakes here and there….

But the Sixers immediately surrendered a 0-10 run and their offence bogged down again, problems that had plagued them in recent close setbacks. That’s why he’s the MVP.

Warriors: Golden State has won nine straight regular-season road games, one shy of the franchise record set last season…. The Warriors also received contributions from reserve guard Ian Clark, who sank four 3-pointers against his former squad. Curry had 27 points through two quarters on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 7-of-9 from behind-the-arc, and added eight assists and two steals. The Warriors topped the Jazz 106-103 at Vivint Smart Home Arena behind a resilient showing that featured key bench contributions and a few new wrinkles with wing Harrison Barnes sidelined due to an ankle injury.

“We just need to refocus on our defense”, Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Rebounding: On the other end of the spectrum, an area most wouldn’t have expected the Jazz to post a deficit in was rebounding, but that’s exactly what happened.

Golden State, with Steph as a magnet to fixate opposing defences, has by far the best offence, the highest number of assists, the best scoring differential, the most three-pointers made, BUT ALSO, the third most efficient defence only giving up 96 points per 100 possessions. The Warriors want to play small? Interim coachLuke Walton said, “We turned the ball over too much, we still have to get better at that”. They can’t look ahead, they will just have to beat the records one at a time. That might be an important next step: recreating the home court magic that the Jazz teams of the ’90s and early 2000s rode to great records and playoff seeds.