DURANT LEADS
HE LIFTS GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS OVER UTAH JAZZ
Kevin Durant had 38 points and 13 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 10291 on Saturday night to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 7 for 29 from the field and 3 for 15 from 3-point range, leaving Durant to lead the Warriors.
The Jazz led 75-74 early in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors went on a 10-4 run and never trailed again. Curry and Durant hit back to back 3s to give Golden State a 92-84 lead with 3:04 left.
Curry finished with 23 points on 6-for-20 shooting.
Gordon Hayward led Utah with 29 points. Rudy Gobert added 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Game 4 is Monday night in Utah.
The Warriors got out to a quick start, again, and led by 10 after the first quarter.
Utah survived the first-half onslaught by Durant, who had 22 points and six rebounds at the break. There wasn’t much the Jazz could do to contend a flurry of turnaround fadeaways, drives to the basket and a pair of 3s. Golden State, however, didn’t get much help otherwise and Draymond Green dealt with foul trouble.
The Jazz took a 50-49 lead into halftime after closing the second quarter on a 12-5 run highlighted by Rodney Hood’s 3-pointer triple that gave the Jazz their first lead of the series at 48-47.
Green picked up a technical arguing from the bench late in the second quarter after being whistled for his third foul of the half. As the crowd roared, he gave a 2-0 hand gesture to indicate the series record.
The Jazz led by nine in the third quarter, but Curry began to warm up and hit his first 3-pointer of the game on a pull-up in transition. Golden State closed the quarter on a 19-8 stretch to take a 72-70 lead.
Meanwhile, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has had a spinal cord leak procedure on his back and remains out indefinitely.
Owner Joe Lacob updated Kerr’s condition during an interview with Bloomberg Radio.
Kerr did not travel to Salt Lake City for the Warriors’ 102-91 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night that gave Golden State a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference second-round series. He saw a specialist at Duke University on Friday.
Kerr had back surgery about two years ago and has been dealing with complications. Assistant Mike Brown took over as acting coach for Game 3 of the firstround series against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Warriors are 7-0 in the playoffs and have the longest winning streak in a single postseason in franchise history.