Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry Push Warriors to 2-0 Series Lead vs. Jazz
The Golden State Warriors machine continued rolling Thursday with a 115-104 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 2 of their playoff series at Oracle Arena.
Golden State leads the series 2-0 and is a perfect 6-0 in the postseason, with just one of those wins coming by single digits.
Stephen Curry tallied 23 points, while Kevin Durant and Draymond Green each flirted with a triple-double in a balanced effort for the Warriors:
| Kevin Durant | 25 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 6-of-13 | 0-of-4 |
| Stephen Curry | 23 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 8-of-15 | 5-of-8 |
| Draymond Green | 21 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7-of-13 | 5-of-8 |
| Klay Thompson | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 6-of-13 | 2-of-4 |
| Andre Iguodala | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5-of-12 | 0-of-3 |
The Jazz were shorthanded after they announced point guard George Hill was out with soreness in his left big toe. Gordon Hayward picked up the slack with 33 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Rudy Gobert added a double-double (16 points and 16 boards), but the pair couldn't counter Golden State's unstoppable offense.
Green Sets Tone for Balanced Warriors Offense
Green wasted little time letting the Jazz know he was going to thrive Thursday when he drilled his first four threes of the game.
His hot shooting left Utah in a pick-your-poison situation because it couldn't consistently help off Curry, Klay Thompson or Durant. What's more, Andre Iguodala slashed into the lane multiple times, and Green's passing is one of the best facets of his game.
The Jazz had no answer to so many scoring threats with Green stretching the floor, as Sean Wagner-McGough of CBS Sports pointed out:
When Utah did press against his outside shot, he either blew past Gobert in the half-court set or found his teammates, which left Jazz fans feeling helpless:
Golden State got in its own way at times with 17 turnovers, and the resilient Jazz pulled within single digits multiple times in the second half. However, whenever Warriors coach Mike Brown—who is filling in for Steve Kerr—turned to his small-ball death lineup of Curry, Durant, Green, Thompson and Iguodala, the home team would seize control again.
The Jazz never fully went away, and the home crowd received a scare when Green went to the locker room after going down holding his knee. However, Utah couldn't get a critical stop when it needed one, with Golden State shooting 45.2 percent from deep.
That's a credit to the Warriors' overwhelming balance.
Jazz Display Resiliency Even in Defeat
The Warriors offense receives plenty of the headlines, and rightly so, but it would be unjust to overlook their smothering defense when extolling their title chances.
They boasted the second-best defensive rating in the league this season, per NBA.com, which makes Utah's ability to hang tough on the road without Hill all the more impressive, especially after losing the first quarter 33-15.
Still, Golden State's defensive potential was on full display in that first quarter, which left the vistors chasing throughout the contest. Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders pointed to Utah's issues running the offense in the early going:
Sportswriter Peter Bukowski put things into perspective:
Many teams would have folded against the mighty Warriors after such a dismal start, but Hayward, Gobert and Co. made Golden State sweat by winning the second and third quarters. It wasn't just a case of the Warriors taking their foot off the proverbial gas either, because they couldn't fully shake Utah even after locking in and pushing a six-point lead back to 16 in the third.
Andy Liu of Warriors World noted Utah's star wasn't intimidated by the moment:
There may not be moral victories in the NBA playoffs, but the Jazz can take solace knowing they hung with the two-time defending Western Conference champs for three quarters Thursday. They will look to replicate that effort for the entire contest in Saturday's Game 3 at home.
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