Put the pitchforks and torches down, people. This one didn’t matter anyway.
In a game that meant nothing, the Warriors couldn’t pull off the win and fell to the Jazz 99-105, ending their winning streak at 14.
That’s not to say there wasn’t anything to take away from this game. Far from it. It would have been easy for the Warriors to roll over on a game like this, to take it easy and shrug their way through 48 minutes until they could get to their beds.
That wasn’t the case, though, as they kept a neck-and-neck pace with the Jazz for much of the game, showing a high level of energy and intensity at times. Coach Steve Kerr was on them to stay focused, as they can have a tendency to lose that focus in these type of situations and it showed.
They actually shot the ball better, at roughly 49% to Utah’s 45%. The difference came from beyond the arc, however, with Utah scoring four more 3-pointers on the same amount of attempts. I’m going to go ahead and give credit for that one to Joe Johnson, who put up three of those in fourth quarter alone. Whereas the only Warrior to shoot a three in the fourth quarter was James Michael McAdoo. Think about THAT.
Stephen Curry had a good night, with a game-high 28 points, backed by yet another double-double from Kevin Durant with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Getting the start for the resting Klay Thompson was Patrick McCaw who had some good shots on his way to nine points. Meanwhile the big men in the reserve unit put up some solid numbers as well - with JaVale McGee racking up 11 points and six rebounds and David West getting eight points, three rebounds and two assists.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable game of basketball to observe, really. They just didn’t pull it off and that’s nothing to be upset about.
Meanwhile, it made things more interesting between the Jazz and the Clippers for the 4th and 5th slots. And really, we want to help one of those teams and hurt the other, so the outcome of this game is actually a positive thing if you think about it.