SALT LAKE CITY _ Draymond Green tweaked his left ankle and limped to the locker room. Joe Ingles, a Jazz third-stringer turned sixth man by all of Utah's injuries, popped a pair of early fourth quarter 3s.
Golden State's one-time 25-point lead had been sliced to five. Some minor drama had materialized on an otherwise sleepy Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
But it didn't last long. Green returned and immediately made a huge defensive play. Ian Clark nailed a pair of cushion 3s. Then Kevin Durant dunked three times in a row, the final two viscously, to seal a 106-99 win that was closer than it needed to be, but still resulted in an eighth straight Warriors road victory, pushing their NBA-best record to 20-3.
Intrigue had been sapped from this matchup the night before. Utah announced that George Hill, Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks _ four starters and a key reserve _ would sit with injuries. There was thought the Warriors would also rest some of their major pieces. But they only sat reserve guard Shaun Livingston.
The massive talent advantage played out in the first quarter. Utah scored the first four points, but then the Warriors went on an outrageous 29-1 run.
It started with a Klay Thompson mid-range jumper. Then two Steph Curry 3s sandwiched a Kevin Durant jumper. A 10-4 score was soon 17-4. Minutes later, it was 26-5 when Curry pushed a rebound upcourt, felt some contact about 20 feet from the hoop and fired a rainbow toward the rafters.
The foul was called and Curry's rainbow slowly descended through the hoop. He hit the free throw to complete the and-1 and push the Warriors lead to 29-5.
Eight minutes into the game, it felt over. But the Jazz B team rallied and the Warriors got a bit lazy. A defense that had held them to one point for a seven-minute first quarter stretch gave the Jazz 29 points in the second quarter.
They climbed back within five and when Green went out, twisting his left ankle again by some friendly fire _ this time a backpedalling Curry stepping on his foot _ the crowd rose with a glimmer of comeback hope.
But Green returned a few minutes later after a re-tape. He immediately stripped Boris Diaw on a post-up and then fed Durant on a backdoor cut for a reverse dunk. Ian Clark _ who combined with Patrick McCaw for 16 points in Livingston's absence _ nailed two 3s and Durant put the Jazz to bed with a powerful and-1 transition dunk in which the fouler, Trey Lyles, was bumped so hard he flew into the first row.
It wasn't particularly impressive. But it was another Warriors win.
