Jerebko leaves tip in Warriors’ last-second victory

SALT LAKE CITY – Most NBA teams look at the Golden State Warriors roster and figure it is impossible to beat them. The Utah Jazz is not one of those teams.

The Jazz, which beat the Warriors three times last season, almost did it again Friday night.

That it didn’t happen was the work of many people, including Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. But the hero of the night was Jonas Jerebko, the former Jazz player. In his first game against his old team, Jerebko tipped in a shot with 0.3 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 124-123 victory.

The Jazz didn’t merely beat the Warriors three times last season, they beat them badly. There was a 30-point blowout at the end of January, then a 19-point loss at Oracle and then the capper — a 40-point drubbing in the season finale, their worst defeat since Steve Kerr became coach in 2015.

“I’m hoping we cut it to 20 this year,” Kerr joked before Friday night’s game.

The Jazz went right back at it, scoring a franchise record 81 points in the first half and leading the Warriors by as many as 16 points in the third quarter.

But with Durant scoring 38 and Curry scoring 31, the Warriors rallied and turned the final 14 minutes into a wild back and forth that Jerebko ultimately decided.

Jerebko, who’d been struggling since training camp, finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes. He entered the game with 5:03 left in the first quarter and received a nice round of applause from the fans whose hearts he would ultimately break.

“Jonas has been great,” Kerr had said before the game. “I really like him because he knows what he’s doing. He’s a very good basketball player.”

Damian Jones struggled in his second start — Jones logged only eight first-half minutes after picking up three fouls. The Warriorshave liked Jones’ post presence, but they believe he closes out without much discipline and does not adopt the verticality rule with consistency. Hence, the early whistles.

Draymond Green is rounding into form. The Warriors’ All-Star forward made progress in easing concerns about his conditioning, an issue stemming from a threegame absence in pre-season play because of a sore left knee.

Beyond fulfilling the usual effort on defense and playmaking, Green started at center in