Warriors Turn in a Valiant Effort, But Become Undone by Late-Game Mistakes Against Jazz

In the case of a 114-106 Friday night road loss to the Utah Jazz, you could say the Warriors should have lost by more, and you’d be right. You could also say the Warriors should have won, and you’d be right about that too. It’s contradictory, but it’s an accurate assessment of yet another close Warriors loss against a team with a significantly better roster.

The first half went about as well as it possibly could have gone for Golden State. They executed extremely well on both offense and defense, shooting 50% from the field while holding the Jazz under 44%. They dominated on the glass with 10 offensive boards and a 26-16 overall rebounding advantage. They turned in a better effort than the Jazz, neutralized Rudy Gobert and got contributions from basically every available player to take a seven-point lead after the first quarter and hold that lead at halftime.

But with an opponent as good as the Jazz, a game can’t be won in a half. Four great quarters are needed and the Warriors didn’t turn in a good enough second half. In the third quarter, the offense was still fine, but the defense began to disintegrate. Bojan Bogdanovic was left open from three-point range again and again. The once stellar effort in defending Gobert and keeping him off the offensive glass went away as the French big man went for nine points and five rebounds just in the quarter. By the end of the quarter, the Warriors trailed by two. But give them credit: the Jazz weren’t running away. The Warriors kept hanging around.

The fourth quarter went back and forth in a largely defensive struggle. The lead changed hands numerous times and, with less than two minutes left, it looked like the Warriors were all set to tie the game. Then everything fell apart. Willie Cauley-Stein, who had clanked several makeable shots throughout the game, missed an uncontested dunk. Poor transition defense led to an easy Donovan Mitchell three. A Damion Lee layup to cut the deficit to three with under a minute to go was negated by a stupid and unnecessary foul on Alec Burks which gave Mitchell two free throws. Poor shot selection gave the Jazz the ball back and all but sealed the victory for Utah.

Once again, the Warriors simply showed an inability to close a game and lock in for the game’s tightest moments. The clutch moments late in contests have not gone in Golden State’s direction this season. The players on the floor for the Warriors are not used to being on the floor in crunch time. They are still getting used to playing these types of minutes and it shows. Getting comfortable with intense fourth-quarter play in the NBA takes time and in-game experience. The available Warriors will be comfortable with it one day. They’re not there yet.

Of course, it would be wrong to only discuss the negatives of the game. Marquese Chriss had one of his best games as a Warrior with 12 points and 13 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. He also proved to be the best Warrior big to match up with Gobert. There was a scary moment in the second half where he went down after taking a knee to his knee while contesting a shot. Thankfully, he returned and continued to look solid, active on both offense and defense and running the floor nicely. He continues to prove his worth and validate the Warriors’ decision to give him a roster spot out of training camp. Alec Burks added 24 points on 62.5% shooting from the field, and Lee impressed with 21 points on 63.6% shooting, including three three-pointers. He looked confident and collected and bounced back nicely from Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, when he returned from a broken hand to score just six points and miss all three of his three-point attempts. He may be on a two-way contract right now, but against Utah, he reminded everyone why he has potential as a full-time NBA player in the future.

Once again, it’s also a positive that they lost by less than they should have against a team with much more talent. But I’ve written about that a lot at this point. What I haven’t written about a lot are wins that they shouldn’t have won. Eventually, if this team wants to be respected, they have to start producing those from time to time.