Lots of reasons to feel good after beating Utah
Early in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon, after his team let a 15point lead whittle down to one, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t give in to the temptation to bring Stephen Curry back a couple of minutes early.
Golden State was eager to snap out of a seasonworst skid with a victory over the leaguebest Jazz. But in the long term, Kerr knew his newlook second unit would benefit from staying on
the floor for a critical stretch. A 40 spurt created distance as the Warriors pulled away for a 131119 win at Chase Center — perhaps the most important development Sunday.
After dropping four games in a row for the first time this season, Golden State led almost the entire way as it moved back above .500 and dealt Utah just its 10th loss. This was the type of resilient performance that Kerr can reference whenever he needs to remind his team what its identity must be as it jostles for playoff positioning.
“We’re right there,” forward Andrew Wiggins said. “We just have to build off this win.”
The Warriors weathered Utah’s secondhalf rally by shooting 56.2% from the field
(51.6% from 3point range) and collecting 33 assists to only 13 turnovers. Curry, on his 33rd birthday, had 32 points and nine assists. Forward Draymond Green posted his 26th career tripledouble (11 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds), and Wiggins scored 28 points.
Three days after sitting the first three quarters of a blowout loss to the Clippers as punishment for a missed coronavirus test, rookie center James Wiseman needed only 11 shots and 23 minutes to score 16 points. Guard Jordan Poole, in his third appearance back from the G League bubble, continued to dazzle off the bench with 18 points and three assists.
“I think we were very satisfied,” Kerr said. “I just liked our defensive intensity from the start to the finish.”
Roughly 90 minutes before the 1 p.m. tipoff, Kerr admitted that it felt “too early to be playing a basketball game.” Players and staff had been at the arena at 10 o’clock the night before for coronavirus testing and lost an hour of sleep because of the daylightsaving time change. With a backtoback looming against two of the Western Conference’s three best teams (Golden State hosts the Lakers on Monday), the Warriors recognized that even a little grogginess could prove detrimental.
But there Golden State was, building a 6954 lead early in the third quarter before letting
the Jazz within striking distance.
In recent weeks, Golden State had made a habit of blowing games late. After getting routed by the Clippers on Thursday, the Warriors practiced twice, going over lineup combinations and fourthquarter situations.
With Wiseman back at his normal workload Sunday, Kerr was free to roll out his new second unit at the start of the second and fourth quarters: Poole, Wiggins, Wiseman, Nico Mannion and Juan ToscanoAnderson. As the game progressed, the group started to settle into a rhythm.
After that unit held off the Jazz early in the fourth quarter, Kerr brought back Curry and Green. Perhaps most notable, however, was Kerr’s decision to keep Poole on the floor. Poole had been sent to the G League in early February because he was out of the regular rotation. Now, he has enough trust to play the most pivotal stretches.
Poole’s strides embody the growth of an overhauled roster.
“This win can be a turning point for anyone’s season,” Green said. “But if you don’t come out of this win playing the same kind of inspired basketball, it doesn’t matter.”