This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Oakland, Calif. • The Jazz are not beaten in their second-round series against the Golden State Warriors, even if many were writing them off following Utah's 106-94 loss Tuesday night in Game 1 at Oracle Arena.
But if the series opener was a feeling out process for the Jazz, they now know they have a long way to go if they want to be competitive with the Warriors over the long haul.
These guys aren't the Clippers.
The Jazz missed too many open shots. They turned the ball over too many times. They didn't offer enough resistance defensively. They surrendered way too many points to a lethal Golden State team that was happy to capitalize on Utah's miscues.
It added up to a wire-to-wire loss for the Jazz. Utah never led, the game was never tied, and the Warriors had an easy time in cruising to their fifth consecutive win to start the postseason.
"They got a lot of points in transition," Jazz forward Boris Diaw said. "They got too many open shots and open baskets. It's one game, but we have to play a lot better."
Tuesday wasn't one big Golden State body blow to the Jazz. Instead, the Warriors' win looked more like death by a thousand cuts.
Already up 27-21, Golden State scored 12 of the first 16 points of the second quarter to increase the spread to 39-25. That was the Warriors' first major run, which led to their first double-digit lead.
A 7-0 run in the third quarter — after the Jazz trimmed their deficit — turned a 61-54 advantage into 68-54. Then, the Warriors went on a 12-3 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter, turning an 84-73 lead into a 96-76 advantage.
Golden State turned Tuesday night into a game of hide and seek. Whenever the Jazz got close, the Warriors pulled away. If the Jazz hit some shots, Golden State found a way to counter.
"We had to adjust to Golden State's speed," Jazz guard Shelvin Mack said. "Los Angeles didn't really run as much. Golden State, they are quick and they are long. They have a lot of weapons."
Every Warriors starter found a way to put his imprint on the game. Stephen Curry scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists. He went 7 of 11 from the field and made all seven of his free throws.
Draymond Green scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out six assists. Klay Thompson scored 15 points on a steady diet of jumpers. Kevin Durant was able to score 17.
The Jazz weren't able to counter that kind of balance, especially coming off short rest after their first-round win over the Clippers. There were a few positives, such as Rodney Hood playing well in the second half, establishing a rhythm with his jumper and driving the lane for multiple finishes at the hoop.
But the positives outside of Hood were few and far between.
Rudy Gobert played well, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 30 minutes, while shooting 5 of 7 from the field. But many of the guys the Jazz needed to play well on Tuesday didn't.
Gordon Hayward scored 12 points, but shot 4 of 15 from the field and missed seven of his nine 3-point attempts. Joe Johnson scored 11 points, George Hill scored seven points and Joe Ingles scored just five points.
More importantly, Utah's shooting percentages weren't anywhere near where they needed to be. The Jazz shot 46 percent from the field and went 9 of 28 from 3-point range. Compare that with the Warriors, who shot almost 50 percent from the field, and made 19 of their 21 free throws collectively.
It all added up to Utah suffering its worst loss of the postseason.
Overall, the lopsided defeat wasn't surprising. The first-round win over the Clippers was hard-fought, emotionally draining and lasted seven games and 15 days. The Jazz had no downtime, and little time to prepare for the Warriors, who enjoyed eight days of rest following their first- round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers.
But Utah's response in Thursday's Game 2 will likely tell the tale of how this series goes. Plenty of teams have been blown out in a game and come back to win a series. And the Jazz don't even need to win Game 2 for that. But with another day to settle in, they have to show better than they did Tuesday night.
If they can't do that, this could be a short series.
"We're going to go and look at film, see what we can do better," Johnson said. "We'll come out in Game 2, and we'll be ready."
Twitter: @tribjazz