Photo credit: @warriors

By: Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors had the best road record in the NBA, but ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday night as the Utah Jazz overwhelmed them 129-99 at the Vivant Smart Home Arena.

The Jazz started the scoring and led the entire way. The only time the Warriors came close was when the game was tied at eight apiece early in the first quarter. Utah’s head coach Quin Snyder found the recipe to shut down the Warriors’ vaunted offense. They pressured Steph Curry and hounded him at every turn. Curry was just one-for-seven from beyond the three-point arc. They also pressured Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Their strategy was to let the other Warriors beat them.

Utah’s offense was led by guard Ricky Rubio and forward Joe Ingles. Rubio hounded Curry all night and finished the night with twenty-three points and 11 assists for a double-double. Ingles was on fire. Ingles made six three-point shots in 8 attempts, and the Jazz shot 58.25 from the floor and was 14-for-28 from 3-point range.

In the first quarter, the Jazz raced out to a 35-30 advantage. The Warriors were close, and if they could get their game going, they could take the lead. They didn’t do that. They had a bad night on defense, and they were sloppy handling the ball. The Warriors failed to gain ground and trailed by 13 at the half (69-56).

It was more of the same in the second half. The Jazz did everything right, and the Warriors did not look like a championship team at all. The Jazz increased the lead to 18, and the Warriors rested their stars in the fourth quarter as they could not mount a charge. The Jazz wins 129-99.

Game Notes and Stats: With the loss, the Warriors drop to 40-11.

The Jazz improved to 22-28.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 27 points.

Kevin Durant had 17 while Steph Curry and JaVale McGee, of all people, tallied 14 each.

The Jazz controlled the boards. They made 16 steals and just 11 turnovers.

The Warriors, on the other hand, committed 19 turnovers. They just didn’t do a good job of handling the basketball Tuesday night. Donovan Mitchell, the high scoring rookie from Louisville, knocked down 20 and Derrick Favors, the other twin tower for Utah, had 18.

Up Next: The Warriors travel to Sacramento to face the Kings Friday night.

They will want to gain a measure of revenge as the Kings beat them the last time they met which was at Oracle Arena.