Preview: Golden State At Utah
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, November 30, 2015
Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
If the Golden State Warriors are going to lose at all this season, a seven-game road trip that begins with a trip to the third-ranked scoring defense in the NBA. The Warriors will try to make it 19 straight victories to begin the season when they visit the Utah Jazz on Monday.
Golden State cruised to No. 18 on Saturday as Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 19 points in the first quarter and Draymond Green turned in his second straight triple-double. The Warriors will cycle through the Eastern and Central time zones after leaving Utah, with stops at Charlotte, Toronto, Brooklyn, Indiana, Boston and Milwaukee looming as possibilities for that elusive first loss. The Jazz have an offense that shares the ball like Golden State, though Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood and Alec Burks are not quite as consistent with their shooting as the Warriors’ plethora of outside options. Utah could try to overwhelm the Warriors up front with the likes of Trevor Booker, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (18-0): Golden State reached deep into its bag of perimeter options on Saturday and pulled out Brandon Rush, who got the start in place of Harrison Barnes and buried 4-of-5 3-pointers en route to 16 points. “Obviously, we’re thrilled for Brandon,” interim head coach Luke Walton told reporters. “He puts in a lot of time. On most teams, he’d be getting some minutes. But we’re deep and it’s tough to get him out there.” Rush’s 16 points marked his most since Apr. 22, 2012, and he figures to stay in the starting lineup until Barnes (ankle) is fully healthy.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (8-7): Utah is coming off back-to-back wins and got a total of 54 points out of Burks, Hayward and Hood in Saturday’s 101-87 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. “We’re all versatile,” Burks told reporters. “Us three, we can do a lot with the ball. So coach (Quin Snyder) has faith in us to put the ball in our hands and make plays for ourselves and others, and that’s what we did.” Burks went 9-of-14 from the field to bust out of a slump that saw him shoot below 50 percent from the field in the previous four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Golden State has taken seven of the last eight in the series.
2. Favors (personal) missed Saturday’s game and is questionable for Monday.
3. Green is the first Warriors player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1964 to post back-to-back triple-doubles.
PREDICTION: Warriors 106, Jazz 99