by George Devine, Sr.

The Warriors continued to advance their playoff prospects with a decisive 130-102 win over the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena. The score was Golden State’s highest for the season.

Although Klay Thompson scored 35 points, Stephen Curry was just as impressive with 31 points–more than one in each of 29 minutes–and a career-high 16 assists. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala each had 11; Harrison Barnes and Jordan Crawford each had 10. Of Thompson’s 11 field goals, Curry assisted on 8. This was the first game in which Curry and Thompson both scored over 30 points. Curry made half of his 10 3-point attempts.

Golden State shot 100% from the charity stripe and outdid Utah in percentages on field goals (57.8-45.3) and three-pointers (51.5-30.8) despite committing 16 turnovers to the visitors’ 12. The Jazz were a mere 71.4% on free throws, considerably below the standard for the NBA. The home team was in triple digits before the third period ended.

The victory gave the W’s their first season sweep over the Jazz. The return of Andrew Bogut to the court, after a bruise in the pelvic area, strengthened the inside defense and befuddled Utah. Still, Trey Burke impressed with 24 points and 15 assists; Alec Burks also scored 24. Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward each had 10 points.

David Lee remained inactive, for the sixth straight time, with a sprained right hamstring, and an MRI revealed a nerve inflammation which could keep him on the bench for at least the rest of the regular season.

Assistant coach Darren Erman was also missing, on a more permanent basis. He was fired the previous day for “a violation of company policy” according to the team’s administration. Another assistant, Brian Scalabrine, was reassigned recently to the team’s NBA developmental league team in Santa Cruz, California, owing to “philosophical differences” with head coach Mark Jackson.
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