Warriors move to 19-0 with victory over Jazz

The Warriors broke a tie late with a Draymond Green putback, but fittingly Golden State put the game away with a Stephen Curry 3-pointer and then a pair of free throws for insurance.

After Curry missed a 3, the Jazz had a chance to take the lead, but Hood missed a 3 from the wing with 5 seconds left. Utah took a 90-87 lead in the fourth quarter, but with the crowd on its feet, Curry checked back into the game with 6:36 left and immediately hit a game-tying 3-pointer. “We have had some lopsided victories, too”, said Curry, whose team also beat the Brooklyn Nets in overtime and rallied from a 23-point deficit against the Los Angeles Clippers. “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…”

Jared Sullinger had 17 points to help the Celtics snap a three-game road slide.

“Guys feel like they’re a part of something on our team”, the Warriors’ Andre Iguodala said.

Green has been the NBA’s foremost stat stuffer this season with averages of 12.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.7 blocks and 1.6 3-pointers per game, while Thompson averages 16.1 points and 2.4 threes per game. The Hornets rank No. 7 in points per game (102.5) and have won five of their last six games.

Stephen Curry knows it would be almost impossible for the Golden State Warriors to pull off an unbeaten season. Then Curry hit another three-pointer.

Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 24 points, while Derrick Favors double-doubled with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The slow-paced Jazz controlled tempo and generally played the style they prefer, trailing by double digits for all of 14 seconds on the night. Chris Bosh played through an illness to add 21 points for the Heat, who got 10 from Tyler Johnson off the bench. I’m sure they will have some in-game stuff on the big scoreboard, and I might get a little distracted watching that, but other than that, it should be fun for my whole family. Hood stated the obvious when he said the final play broke down.

The Warriors will face a third straight game without starting forward Harrison Barnes, who is tending to a left ankle sprain from last Friday’s game against Phoenix.

The Warriors swept the season series against the Hornets previous year, winning by a margin of 15 points. “We have a good team, but we have a team that can keep getting better”, coach Steve Clifford said.

The Jazz, who had a recovery day instead of practice Tuesday, were kicking themselves over a few loose ends not named Steph Curry that ultimately allowed a victory over the Warriors to unravel into the team’s eighth loss of the year. They are tops in the league in points per game (115.8), field goal percentage (.491), assists per game (29.8), threes per game (13.2), three-point percentage (.429), point differential (+16), fast break points (22.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.85).