Golden State’s Full Team Effort Comes Up Just Short Against Jazz
When the Warriors tipped off against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Friday night, the fans at Vivint Smart Home Arena probably didn’t expect that they’d be on the edge of their seats with less than a minute to go. When the Jazz took a 20-point lead with under ten minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the fans expected it even less. Yet they were. With just eight healthy players, on the road against one of the more talented teams in the Western Conference, the Warriors had cut the lead to three points with fewer than 20 seconds remaining. In the end, it wasn’t enough as they fell 113-109.
They had no business being in the game whatsoever, but no one told them that. It’s a familiar trend: close losses that shouldn’t be close losses. Incredibly competitive games against teams with vastly more talent, or even simply more available bodies. They’re not as good as wins, but they do offer hope and show signs of potential.
So how did they do it? Well, mainly by having everybody step up. It was like a weird knockoff version of the Strength in Numbers mentality that defined the Warriors for several years. Each of the eight active Warriors saw at least 22 minutes of court time. Several of those same guys would receive “Did Not Play - Coach’s Decision” next to their name on a stat sheet on a regular basis on nearly any other NBA team. But they didn’t play like it. Seven Warriors scored double digits, with Willie-Cauley Stein as the odd man out. Five dished out at least four assists. Four hit multiple three-pointers. The defense wasn’t great for much of the night, but the Warriors stepped up as a team as they cut down the deficit late in the fourth quarter.
Omari Spellman was the unquestioned player of the game for the Dubs. He turned in one of his best games in blue and gold by scoring 18 points, the second most on the team, while adding five rebounds. He also scored the most efficiently of any Warrior, going 7-for-9 from the field and making all four of his three-point attempts. In spite of his strong performance, after the game he talked about places where he could improve, focusing on his only turnover of the game, a bad pass intended for Cauley-Stein late in the fourth quarter. He also mentioned the difficulty of losing at the level that the Warriors are right now.
“It felt good to be in the game, but I had a tough turnover,” Spellman said. “I tried to get it to Willie … [I’m] trying to be a good teammate. It’s tough.”
Ky Bowman was another player who excelled. He played far beyond his current two-way status with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and three three-pointers. He also provided one of the highlights of the game for the Warriors, stealing a Mike Conley pass in transition before taking off the other way and outhustling Donovan Mitchell to throw down a soaring dunk. The play cut the Jazz lead to five with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and was one of the defining moments of the Warriors late-game run to make the contest interesting. Bowman’s two-way contract means he can only spend 45 days with the big club during the season, but Steve Kerr is already thinking about Bowman’s future status with the team. At the same time, Kerr acknowledged the difficulty of giving Bowman a full-scale NBA contract.
“Our hands are tied, so all we can do is keep giving him the opportunity and he’s seizing it,” Kerr said. “I want to keep him. I think we feel really strongly about that, but if we can’t, I’m really happy that he’s shown what he can do and he’s shown that he belongs in the NBA.”
In the end, neither Bowman nor Spellman nor anybody else was enough to pull out the win. Mitchell and Conley’s combined 57 points, along with the contributions of everyone else, proved to be just too much for the Warriors to handle. They had the ball down three with under 20 seconds remaining, but Alec Burks chose to try a tough two-point shot instead of attempting a three and a Mitchell free throw with 10.6 seconds remaining all but ended it.
The Warriors are now 3-14, but they continue to battle. Most of their best players remain sidelined. With a healthier team, with more players around to help carry the load, the Warriors are going to have a ton of potential.