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Oakland, Calif. • Shelvin Mack was the starter. Raul Neto received sporadic minutes. Dante Exum impressed during a second-quarter run.

The Utah Jazz used a patchwork trio to replace the loss of point guard George Hill in Thursday's Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors. Without Hill in the lineup — he missed his first postseason game with a sore toe — Jazz coach Quin Snyder played the other three point guard on his roster, with Mack being the starter.

"George's loss is a big impact, but one that we started with the beginning of the year," Snyder said. "(Jazz general manager) Dennis (Lindsey) and I talked about four point guards on the roster. We didn't know at the time how much we would be using all of them. It's a shared load and it doesn't really fall on one guy in particular. We've got to compete at the position."

In Thursday's first half, the Jazz weren't bad in relief of Hill. Mack played 15 minutes, scored seven points and handed out four assists. He went 2 of 4 from the field, with both of his field goals coming from 3-point range.

Neto's performance was minimal. He played four minutes, missed a shot and came up with an assist. Exum made an impact in seven minutes. He drove to the basket with purpose, and provided energy off the bench. That was important, because the Jazz as a whole looked lethargic for much of the first half. Exum competed well and played well defensively.

Snyder picked Mack as his starter because of his ability to score and because he's played well against the Warriors this season. Hill's missed a chunk of the season with the toe issue, and in his stead Snyder has gone in different directions.

"I felt like Shelvin out of the gate could give us something we needed," Snyder said. "It's not like we rolled the dice or flipped a coin. We know we are going to need everyone. We have to play to everyone's strengths."

Using their size

Much like he did against the Los Angeles Clippers, Snyder attempted to throw size at an opposing point guard.

This time, it was Stephen Curry, as 6-foot-8 Joe Ingles drew the assignment. Curry was Golden State's best player in Game 1, but Ingles made him work for his offense in the first half of Game 2.

"Joe has been on Steph before," Snyder said. "There isn't an easy answer to these things. At some point, you're just putting out fires all over the floor."

Odds and ends

Jazz forward Joe Johnson sprained his left pinky finger in the first half, but came back to play in the second half. ... Jazz guard Rodney Hood, who played well in the second half of Game 1, missed five of his first six shots in the first half of Game 2. … Utah shot 49 percent from the field in the first half. … The Jazz have yet to take a lead in the series.

tjones@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribjazz