Jazz have plenty of positives to take away from loss to Warriors

Stephen Curry knows it would be almost impossible for the Golden State Warriors to pull off an unbeaten season. “That’s a good shot for him….”

Two Favors free throws tied the game at 101-101. Following Charlotte is a matchup with a Toronto Raptors team that played the Warriors extremely tough in Oracle Arena just weeks prior, and a Brooklyn Nets team that took the Dubs an additional five-minute OT period to decide.

The reigning champions led for most of the night, but the first in a near two-week long run of road games nearly saw them defeated for the first time since last season’s NBA Finals in June.

“We knew this was going to be one of the toughest challenges for us”, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. “That team is very well coached and they execute and they got those bigs that are a lot to deal with”. The Raptors are one of the NBA’s best defensive teams, ranking No. 5 in points allowed (96.4). But even if the Warriors have a skid and lose a few games in a row, they can still look forward to getting their leader in the huddle back and can expect a rekindled fire to be lit when it comes time to perform in the playoffs.

Jimmy Butler hit a pair of free throws to put the Bulls up by what turned out to be the final score with 10.6 seconds left in the fourth. Jefferson is averaging 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds – his lowest marks since the 2005-06 campaign – and occasionally operates alone on the inside with the Hornets employing a perimeter-based attack. Brandon Rush started in his place….

“Hard-fought win to start the road trip”, Curry said. Former Jazz guard Ian Clark hit four triples off the bench…. Cousins grabbed nine rebounds and Rondo had five assists.

Jazz: Utah assigned center Tibor Pleiss to its D-League affiliate Idaho Stampede on Monday. Well, I think the numbers speak for themselves. You think of the great win streaks in the past and it really established the brand of some great teams – the University of Oklahoma football team being undefeated in the ’50s, the Miami Dolphins, UCLA Bruins. “Now it’s nice because the Panthers are winning now and they get a lot of national coverage, so it’s easier to find them on TV and watch them like a regular person in Charlotte would”. “Their crowd, once their crowd got into it, they had their confidence going”. “WE have guys that embrace pressure and they seem to play better and are more sharp the more pressure and the bigger the stage”. Small ball is the future, but 7-foot tall players will always be hard to slow down, especially a talented one like Gobert. “You may feel a little better after a win”.

You certainly don’t want to be the team that gets bumped.

Curry’s father, Dell, will be honored during a halftime ceremony Wednesday night for his contributions to the Hornets organization.

The Jazz (8-8), who return to action Thursday at home against Orlando, have more positives than negatives to take away from this slugfest between a heavyweight and an up-and-coming contender.