After winning Game 1 comfortably two nights ago, the Golden State Warriors wanted to continue their hot streak in this postseason and improve to 6-0 in this year's playoffs. They hosted the Utah Jazz in Game 2 of their Western Conference Semifinals matchup in front of a sellout crowd of 20,000 fans at Oracle Arena.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr missed his fourth straight game as he deals with back issues following his two back surgeries. Mike Brown led the team in this one. Utah was shorthanded also in Game 2 as they played without their starting point guard George Hill.
He was out because of a sore left big toe.
Utah never led in Game 2
Golden State came shooting out of the gate, making five of their first six shots. Early in the first quarter they already had a double-digit lead at 16-6. Warriors played great defense in the first period as they held Utah to just 15 points. The score was 33-15 for the home team after the first 12 minutes of the game.
Draymond Green was 4-for-4 from behind the arc in the opening quarter. Midway through the second quarter Golden State had already built a 20-point lead (47-27). Utah would go on to score the final five points of the quarter to pull within 60-47 going into halftime. The Warriors had 19 assists in that first half.
The third quarter was in a "back-and-forth" mode.
Both teams managed to score as the Jazz outscored Golden State 35-32 in the third. Heading into the final period of the game the score was 92-82 for the home team. The closest the Jazz would come was seven points late in the fourth quarter (109-102) before Golden State close out the game on a 6-2 run.
The final score was 115-104 for the Warriors team that finished the game with 33 assists and 17 turnovers.
They out-rebounded Utah 47-39 and forced them into 15 turnovers. Golden State connected on 14 of their 31 three-point attempts (45.2%).
Balanced scoring for the Warriors
Five players scored in double-digits for Golden State in Game 2 victory. Kevin Durant led them with 25 points in addition to his 11 rebounds and seven assists.
He was 13-for-15 from the free-throw line. Stephen Curry had 23 points and seven assists on 5-for-8 shooting from behind the arc. Draymond Green scored 21 points while Andre Iguodala added 10 off the bench.
Gordon Hayward led all scorers in Thursday's game. After being held to just 12 points in Game 1, he scored 33 points and added four assists in Game 2. Rudy Gobert added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz.
The Warriors now hold a commanding 2-0 series lead with Game 3 to be played on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
