Warriors at Jazz
The Golden State Warriors just finished a homestand as dominating as any for which the team could have hoped, and the NBA’s top team continues to impress. The Warriors will open a stretch of three of four on the road when they visit the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. Golden State swept its six-game homestand by an average of 22.2 points and got center Andrew Bogut back from a knee injury during the stretch.
Bogut gives the Warriors an extra body along the front line to counter the rapidly improving group of Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert and Enes Kanter for the Jazz. Those three have helped Utah win seven of its last 12 games, though the Jazz stumbled at the end of a three-game road trip and were killed by turnovers in back-to-back losses to Oklahoma City and Houston. “Both (the Thunder and the Rockets) have been very, very physical defensive teams,” Utah coach Quin Snyder told reporters. “… We’ve got to learn to play through some of that physicality.”
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (29-5): Golden State leads the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage, limiting opponents to 41.9 percent from the field, but continues to impress on the other side of the floor. The Warriors averaged 118 points on the homestand behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to push into first in the NBA in scoring average (109.2). “We always want to attack,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “We always want to push the ball and play with pace. There were times when we walked the ball up the floor, and we can’t do that. We’re at our best when we really push it.”
ABOUT THE JAZZ (13-25): Utah committed a season-high 31 turnovers in a 97-82 loss to Houston Saturday after giving it away 20 times against Oklahoma City. “You can’t turn the ball over that much and expect to win,” point guard Trey Burke told reporters after the loss on Saturday. “We just didn’t take care of the ball, collectively as a team.” Covering up for some of those mistakes is Gobert, who is averaging 4.7 blocks in six games this month.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thompson was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 27.7 points in three games.
2. Utah F Gordon Hayward is 3-of-19 from 3-point range from 3-point range over the last five games.
3. Golden State rolled to a 101-88 home win in the first meeting on Nov. 21.