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Oakland, Calif. • When the Jazz first arrived in the Bay Area, Ian Clark made dinner plans with his friend Rudy Gobert.

On the court, meanwhile, the former Jazz guard is enjoying watching his Warriors bully his old teammates out of their lunch money.

"We still joke and talk here and there," Clark said this week, "but right now it's about winning the series."

Clark spent most of two seasons in Utah, appearing in 46 games before parting ways with the Jazz. Now he has found a home in Oakland, a key role in the Warriors' second unit.

When former MVPs Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry head to the bench, Clark generally joins Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, David West and Andre Iguodala on the floor. The Warriors call it their "defensive unit" and it helped spark big runs for Golden State in Game 1 against the Jazz.

"That's our slogan, strength in numbers," Clark said. "We've got guys that can make plays all the way from 1-15. We put that second unit in and we make a run like that, it ignites the crowd, it ignites our team."

Clark averaged a career-high 6.8 points per game this season. On Tuesday night, he had six points in a win over his old team.

"When you have those other guys on the floor, sometimes they tend to forget about a guy like Ian Clark … and you're going to get some open looks," Warriors coach Mike Brown said.

Clark has also been effective moving without the ball, cutting to the hoop and taking advantage of his teammates' court vision for easy buckets at the rim.

"It's something that I've been working for," Clark said. "You want to get out there and play and be able to produce."

Taking credit

Warriors coach Steve Kerr hasn't been able to be on the bench during his team's playoff run, as he deals with severe back pain. But the Warriors have heeded one of their coach's main messages: taking care of the basketball.

The Warriors committed seven turnovers in Game 1, a franchise playoff low — an accomplishment Brown jokingly took credit for this week.

"Steve, I hope you're watching this," he said with a laugh at practice Wednesday. "… That's an area I'm doing a lot better than you. I've gotten the point across to our guys a lot better."

Quotable

Just as Curry has the green light to shoot, Green has the freedom to shift and switch and change up his defensive matchups, even over the course of a single possession.

"He basically has carte blanche, for the most part," Brown said. "It never surprises me when Draymond guards the five guys out on the floor, plus all three officials, in one possession."

afalk@sltrib.com Twitter: @aaronfalk