Warriors at Jazz
The lack of nightlife on the road should keep the Golden State Warriors focused on Game 3 when they visit the Utah Jazz on Saturday. The top-seeded Warriors, who made comments prior to the series about wanting to face the Clippers instead of the Jazz in the second round due to the more varied nightlife options in Los Angeles, breezed to wins in the first two games at home over the fifth-seeded Jazz.
Golden State backup forward Matt Barnes told ESPN prior to the series, "there's no nightlife in Utah. Obviously, as players, you want to be able to have a little bit of a nightlife, but the main focus is winning games," and other players reiterated those comments. While Utah and its players may have taken some offense, they didn't take it out on the court against the Warriors in the first two games of the series while falling by double digits in each contest. The Jazz were behind by six points after the first quarter in Game 1 and fell behind by 18 points after the first period in Game 2, and the team knows it needs to get off to a better start at home. "I do think we have to start the game better," Utah coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "Hopefully we can do that at home. But we also want to try and be ahead at the end. If you don't start well, you're climbing an uphill battle. I think that means being more aggressive on offense. If you're not, they really capitalize going the other way."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Golden State's hot start in Game 2 was driven by the long-range prowess of All-Star forward Draymond Green, who knocked down four of his five 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished with 21 points before leaving after a scary fall in the fourth quarter. Green, who went largely unguarded on the perimeter with the Jazz trying to cut off Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson beyond the arc, seemed unconcerned about the injury following the contest. "I knew my knee was just locking up a little bit," Green told reporters. "I had it before. A little tweak. It wasn't like this huge sigh of relief because I kind of knew exactly what it was from the jump. But it's always good to know you're OK."
ABOUT THE JAZZ: All-Star small forward Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 33 points in Game 2 after slumping to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting in Game 1 and is looking forward to heading back to Utah. "It seems like it's been a while since we've been home," Hayward told reporters. "So definitely excited to play in front of our fans. I know they'll be excited to have us, and we're going to need them. They'll be really important for us. They always bring us a lot of energy." The Jazz are awaiting the return of point guard George Hill, who sat out Game 2 with a toe injury and remains day-to-day.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Warriors became the first team to have three players record at least 20 points and five assists (Green, Curry and Durant) since the 2008 San Antonio Spurs when they accomplished the feat in Game 2.
2. Utah SG Rodney Hood is 0-of-9 from 3-point range in the series and 1-of-18 in the last four playoff games.
3. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr (complications from back surgery) is unlikely to return during the series.