Durant, Warriors thump Jazz
Cavs aim for sweep; Wizards, Rockets look to even their series
SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Durant had 38 points and 13 rebounds as the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 102-91 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 at Utah.
The Warriors got out to a quick start, again, and led by 10 after the first quarter.
Utah survived the firsthalf onslaught by Durant, who had 22 points and six rebounds at the break. There wasn’t much the Jazz could do to contend against 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 that gave the Jazz its 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.
Jazz starting point guard George Hill missed his second consecutive game with a big toe injury. Utah hoped the extra rest would have him ready for Game 3, but he didn’t progress enough. Shelvin Mack started in his place.
“It is really just a question of his effectiveness,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “There are situations in the game where he lands on it and pushes off and it just aggravates it. It aggravates it to a point where he’s just not able to be effective.”
KERR UPDATE: 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’ victory over the Utah on Saturday.
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 first-round 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.
Today’s games
LeBron James doesn’t prolong the inevitable.
The last seven times that James’ teams have had a 3-0 lead in a playoff series, the matchup has ended in the most humane fashion — a sweep. He gets a chance at another today when Cleveland can oust host Toronto and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
That’s one of three Game 4s on today’s NBA playoff slate: Boston and host Washington continue their bruising series, with the Celtics leading that East semifinal matchup 2-1, and San Antonio — which proved on Friday that it won’t buckle easily after losing Tony Parker for the season — will look to go up 3-1 in its West semifinal series against host Houston.
Those Celtics-Wizards and Spurs-Rockets matchups look like they might last awhile.
The Cavaliers-Raptors one, not so much.
History says it’s over: No NBA team has wasted a 3-0 series lead, James has never coughed up as much as a 2-0 series lead, and even if the Raptors get injured point guard Kyle Lowry (questionable, ankle) back for today he surely won’t be near his best. Dating to last season’s rally in the NBA Finals, the Cavs have won 10 consecutive playoff games.