The Warriors failed to replicate the effort from the opening two games of their road trip and will return home with a sour taste in their mouths after a bad loss to the Jazz.
Golden State stunned the Rockets to open its road trip and took the Thunder to the wire on Saturday but fell 119-116 on Monday to a tanking Utah team missing its top players.
Already playing without Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic, the Jazz subbed out their remaining leading scorer, Keyonte George, for good at the end of the third quarter. They sent their high scorer for the game, Brice Sensabaugh (21 points), to the bench for the final 4:48.
Draymond Green missed a free throw that would have put the Warriors up 114-113 with 86 seconds remaining. Eight Warriors scored in double figures, led by De’Anthony Melton with 22 points, but they made just 11 of their 21 attempts from the free-throw line.
The Jazz got to the foul line 29 times and sank 27 of them.
What it means
The Warriors couldn’t have expected to return home any better than 1-2 when they hit the road without Steph Curry and a handful of their rotation regulars.
It’s not the path anyone expected, but it’s the same result nevertheless.
Still, the Warriors will be kicking themselves for letting this one slip away.
Turning point
Kevin Love pump-faked Malevy Leons into the air and somehow sank a circus-style 3-pointer through contact, then completed the four-point play to open up the first double-digit lead of the game late in the third quarter. The play was part of a 12-1 run that put the Jazz up 89-78.
Believe it or not, Leons got baited into the air by Love again — on the next trip down the floor.
The Warriors had tied it at 77 before the 12-1 run with an incredible display of tenacity from Nate Williams, one of three active two-way players. He collected the Warriors’ fourth offensive rebound of the possession — his second — before finally converting a reverse layup.
The activity on the offensive glass could have been a signal the Warriors were outworking the Jazz. But the three missed shots on one possession turned out to be a stronger harbinger.
MVP: Seth Curry
Kerr pulled a line change and inserted Curry for his first playing time in 40 games along with an entirely new five-man lineup a little more than nine minutes into the first quarter.
Curry, the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage last season, set up in the corner, received a pass from Brandin Podziemski and promptly drained a triple on his first possession.
Curry showcased the rest of his offensive profile to finish with 13 points in 12 minutes on 4-of-6 shooting, fitting in as seamlessly as he did when he made his debut Dec. 2. He suited up again two nights later and then missed the next four months, largely due to sciatica.
Stat of the game: 36 missed 3-pointers
The Jazz already ranked as the NBA’s worst defensive team inside the perimeter and the second-most foul prone. They were missing their three best players 6-foot-11 or taller.
The Warriors still attempted 52 3-pointers and only converted 16 of them (30.2%).
Up next
The Warriors will have a quick turnaround after a late-night arrival back in San Francisco, playing host to the Bulls on Tuesday night at Chase Center. Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis are both expected to return after they flew home early rather than join the team in Utah.
The back-to-back set is the first of three over the next 13 days for Golden State.
