Durant dazzles as Warriors trump Jazz
SALT LAKE CITY – Mostly unchallenged to start these playoffs, the Golden State Warriors were delivered a stiffer test on Saturday night in Utah. Sporadic shooting, an amped up road crowd and some dominant spurts from Rudy Gobert had the Warriors only up two with under four minutes left.
How will they fare in crunch time? That’s a question that may define this playoff run in a few weeks, when the competition heightens. On Saturday, they passed an early test, outscoring the Jazz by nine in the final four minutes and walking away with a 102-91 win and 3-0 stranglehold on the series.
Steph Curry – cold most of the night – jump-started the closing spurt. After a kickback pass to Andre Iguodala, Curry (23 points) weaved around a screen and, when Rodney Hood failed to recognize and help in time, Curry jetted off the down screen, caught and planted a wing 3 to put the Warriors up 89-84.
On the next possession, Kevin Durant – scorching hot most of the night – went a simpler route to shove his dagger. Durant (38 points) came off a simple high screen and planted a pull-up three over a late-to-help Rudy Gobert, putting the Warriors up 92-84 – a 6-0 run by the Warriors’ two former MVPs in 34 seconds to provide the necessary separation.
The final three minutes were about keeping their foot on the throat, which the Warriors did.
Durant was the main reason for it. After a strong Game 1 in the Portland series, he has been quiet the last couple weeks, missing two games against the Blazers with a twinged calf and then slowly working his way back, slumping mostly to the offensive background, by Durant standards.
But not on Saturday night. With Curry struggling (despite the hot finish he still closed 6-of-20 shooting) and Klay Thompson (six points) remaining way off (1-of-9 shooting), Durant shouldered the offensive load. He was aggressive in the first quarter, taking 10 shots and scoring 13 points.
After a slow start to the second quarter, which included the Jazz taking its first lead of the series, Durant returned and the Warriors went iso ball with him in the mid-post. Three times, they delivered it to him 15 feet from the hoop and then cleared out. Three straight times, he abused the smaller Gordon Hayward (team-high 29 points), drilling unblockable fadeaways over his outstretched arms. At one point, Durant had 27 points and no other Warrior had more than seven.
In the closing minutes, Durant was more fired up than usual. After chirping at a courtside fan, who among other things, said “legacy” to Durant, the Warriors’ lanky scorer planted a fadeaway with 2:09 left to put the Warriors up 11. He then turned and stared down the courtside fan.
Thirty seconds later, Durant delivered a hard foul to Gobert and the two got into it after the whistle. After review, Durant was called for a flagrant foul and a technical. But Gobert missed both free throws and, with under a minute and the Warriors up 10, it already felt over.
But Durant delivered one final backbreaker, tossing in a banked 22-footer to give him 38 points on 15-of-26 shooting – perhaps his most important performance since joining the Warriors.