Durant, Warriors shove Jazz to brink

Late uprising puts Utah in 3-0 hole

SALT LAKE CITY — The Golden State Warriors gave another big example why they signed Kevin Durant during the offseason and why others around the NBA were dismayed with the addition.

Durant had 38 points and 13 rebounds as the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 102-91 on Saturday to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

The Jazz played their best game of the series and kept three All-Stars in relative check. But the former MVP put on a show.

“That’s one of the reasons why we welcomed him here,” Warriors acting coach Mike Brown said. “It’s tough to try to control a guy who’s 7 feet that can play out on the perimeter and have the ball.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr did not travel with the team as he continues to deal with back issues. He was at Duke University on Friday seeing a specialist, and owner Joe Lacob told Bloomberg Radio that Kerr had a “spinal cord leak” procedure on his back.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 7 of 29 from the field and 3 of 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-toback 3s to put Golden State up 92-84 with 3:04 left.

“I’m going to try to say this as humble as I can, but I’ve been doing this for so long,” Durant said, “and every time I get out the bed and we have a game that day, I feel like I can go out there and score.

“It’s the other things that I try to do — defensively, helping my teammates, get them open shots, moving, setting screens.

“Scoring and stuff is not easy, but it’s what I do the best. When I try to do the other things … I feel like it opens up my scoring a little bit more.”

Curry finished with 23 points on 6-for-20 shooting.