Warriors 103, Jazz 85
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors tuned up for their Christmas Day showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, dispatching the Utah Jazz in rather lackluster fashion, 103-85.
The 103-point effort came on a night when the Warriors (27-1) became the first team since the Denver Nuggets in 1990-91 to score 100 or more points in a 47th consecutive game.
The defending champs also were able to extend their home-court winning streak to 30 straight regular-season games with their 13th in a row this season.
In fact, the last visiting team to win at Oracle Arena was Cleveland, which recorded a 95-93 overtime victory in Game 2 of last June's NBA Finals.
The Warriors went on to capture the best-of-7 series 4-2.
Friday's game will be their first since then and their first of two regular-season meetings this season. The Cavaliers (19-7) will bring the Eastern Conference's best record into the game.
The Warriors' second win over the Jazz this season was hardly impressive. They shot just 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting from star guard Stephen Curry and survived a combined 5-for-14 night from beyond the 3-point arc by Curry and backcourt mate Klay Thompson.
But they got just enough offense from Thompson with 20 points and power forward Draymond Green with 15, and one of center Andrew Bogut's best games of the season with a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double, which enabled them to win a third in a row since suffering their only loss of the season last week.
Center Derrick Favors had 17 points and shooting guard Rodney Hood 15 for the Jazz, which like the Warriors entered the game on a two-game winning streak.
Having lost just 106-103 -- the Warriors' smallest margin of victory this season -- when the clubs met in Utah on Nov. 30, the Jazz (12-15) proved troublesome again despite being held to 13 points in the first quarter.
Utah outscored Golden State 25-24 in the second quarter, then got the first four points of the second half on free throws by small forward Gordon Hayward and Favors to get as close as 47-42.
But Thompson countered immediately with a three-point play and then a 3-pointer, helping Golden State respond to its most serious threat of the night by creating a double-digit margin that became 16 before period's end.
The Warriors never led by fewer than 10 in the fourth quarter.
Hayward struggled through a 2-for-15 night for Utah, which remained winless in four road games this month. He finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
Backup guards Trey Burke and Alec Burks had 13 points apiece for Utah.
Favors had nine rebounds to lead the Jazz.
Green added nine rebounds and six assists to his 15 points for Golden State.
NOTES: The Warriors announced Wednesday that Steve Kerr, still recovering from offseason back surgery, would make their next trip -- a three-day, two-game trek to Dallas and Houston next week -- but not return as the full-time coach. If all goes well, Kerr could make his season coaching debut Jan. 2 at home against the Denver Nuggets. ... Asked if he is happy with the product he soon might be returning to Kerr, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said, "It's much nicer to hand the car back without crashing it first." ... The road game was one of just two the Jazz will play over a 23-day stretch that ends Jan. 6.