Warriors hold on for 19th straight win

Teammates would agree – Harrison Barnes recently said he thought Curry might win both the MVP and the Most Improved Player awards this season.

If the enemy intensity and hostile crowd – mixed in with some cheers for the Warriors, an increasing phenomenon – is an indication of what’s coming the next six games on this road trip, are the Warriors doomed to lose at some point?

The NBA season, in a nutshell.

For the Utah Jazz to end the Warriors streak would be very monumental for Utah and would be remembered for years to come.

TIMBERWOLVES: Coach Sam Mitchell says he expects point guard Ricky Rubio to return from a two-game absence on Tuesday night against Orlando.

The Warriors (-365) are eight point road favorites tonight in Utah (+305). BetOnline lists the over/under at 201.5 total points, which is the second smallest total point line for the Dubs this season. At home they got brutally beaten by the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-89. They are young and resistant to injury and when they blow teams out, the starters can rest more.

During the 1985-86 season, Larry Bird led the entire league in made three-pointers. The Jazz, as usual, got a lot of scoring punch from combo guard Alec Burks (19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, somehow only one FTA in this game, but he did hit two threes). The Suns had a great night beyond the arc, draining 10 3-pointers on 26 attempts. The Warriors defeated the Sacramento Kings, 120-101, Saturday night.

The Thunder (11-6) had 22 second-chance points and Drummond’s counterpart, Steven Adams, grabbed 13 rebounds. New Orleans bounced back and made a run in the 4th quarter to cut the lead down to just six points. LeBron has displayed his unrivaled leadership this year, guiding his Cavs team to an early first place lead in the Eastern Conference. But before he could fully secure it, Green dislodged the rock, tapping it to himself between Gobert and Gordon Hayward. Favors is the bigger offensive threat, so he’ll probably draw Draymond Green; but Gobert-also known as the “Stifle Tower” or “French Rejection”-is already one of the elite defensive big men in the league, averaging 2.77 blocks per game”. Tied at 101-101 entering the final minute of regulation, Curry nailed a stepback three with 51 seconds on the clock for what ended up being the winning bucket. He was also a game-high plus-24.

Across the court, the Warriors head into the game with records of 12-5-1 ATS and 18-0 SU.

After the Jazz came so close, Hayward said, “We gave ourselves a chance at the end, and that’s all you can for”. Los Angeles Lakers, on the other hand, with 33 straight wins in 1971 to 1972 seasons.

The Warriors visit Charlotte on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), while the Jazz host the Magic the next day. “Every team that plays them right now, the game, there’s an attention level to the game from everywhere because of what they’re doing, how successful they are”. In a game of this magnitude, it could be the difference for the Jazz. Paul George is having a great season and leading the Pacers averaging 27.2 points a game.

Golden State jumped out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and the Suns never got it to single digits again.

Rubio missed the previous two games with a sore left ankle, the same one that was surgically repaired in the offseason.

The Clippers barely outrebounded Portland 55-54, the first time in 18 games this season that they had the advantage in that department. The Jazz have one of the best defenses, allowing 99.4 points in the same number of possessions (ranked eighth).