This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
When the Utah Jazz are finished with this season, they can look back on 51 wins, an All-Star appearance for Gordon Hayward, advancing to the Western Conference semifinals, and be proud of what the franchise has accomplished.
But in the present, after Utah's 102-91 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 on Saturday night, the Jazz are a frustrated bunch. Utah played its best game of the series, but the Warriors had more weapons than the Jazz when it mattered most and made the clutch plays needed to win in the fourth quarter.
"We played like we're capable of playing for the first time in the series," a dejected Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "But … that's why they are who they are."
The Jazz gave the Warriors their best shot at Vivint Smart Home Arena before a primetime ABC audience, and yet are down 3-0 in a Western Conference semifinal. They defended with vigor. Without starting point guard George Hill, who missed his second consecutive game through injury, the Jazz took their first lead of the series.
That lead swelled to as many as nine points in the middle of the third quarter, and Jazz fans were allowed to dream of a win, a 2-1 series deficit and the chance to be competitive with the best team in the NBA.
In reality, Monday's Game 4 will either be the swan song to Utah's season or a fleeting respite. The Warriors took a commanding lead by responding to that nine-point deficit like the championship favorites they are. They forced the Jazz into bad shots, didn't turn the ball over offensively and in winning time, they had Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
"The answers to the game, they were right in front of our bench," Snyder said. "Those are two great players, and in the end, they played like who they were."
Here's the frustration for the Jazz: They forced Curry into his worst game of the postseason, a 6-of-20 effort from the field that included 3-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Klay Thompson was even worse, shooting 1 of 9 and missing all four of his 3-point attempts. Draymond Green finished with nine points 10 rebounds and five assists, but he wasn't the all-around force that he was in Games 1 and 2.
All of that defense against three stars. And yet, the Jazz couldn't stop Durant.
The star forward had his best game of the playoffs, scoring 38 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He shot 15 of 26 and made four 3-pointers. Whenever the Warriors needed a bucket, he provided it. He torched the Jazz in almost every facet, as Utah ran out of answers.
Durant and Curry scored Golden State's final 22 points. A 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter pushed an 86-84 Warriors lead to a 95-84 advantage.
"I think the problem was we stopped moving the ball and they got going offensively," Jazz center Rudy Gobert said. "They forced us into some tougher shots, and they got out in transition. When Steph and KD get going, they're very tough to guard."
The Jazz for a third straight game started slowly, but unlike the first two games, they were able to recover thanks to the brilliance of Gobert and Hayward.
Gobert played his best game of the series, scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He did struggle at the free-throw line, going 7 of 15, but went 7 of 8 from the field and blocked two shots.
Hayward scored 29 points and added six assists, showing an aggression offensively the Jazz have needed throughout the series and getting to the free-throw line 14 times, making all but one.
Gobert and Hayward did everything they could for the Jazz to win. But Utah's role players couldn't make shots. Rodney Hood went 1 of 8. Joe Johnson went 3 of 12. Utah's bench scored 10 points combined, a major reason the Jazz couldn't hold the lead they worked so hard to build.
"I don't think we shot the ball as well as we wanted," Hayward said. "There were times where we got some bad shots. I think that's going to happen because they're a good defensive team. But the ones we did get, that were open, it seemed like we didn't knock them down like we normally do."
The Jazz are trying to take a positive approach for Game 4. They've been increasingly competitive in each game, and Saturday felt like they had a good chance to win.
"It's definitely encouraging," Hayward said. "From where we were in Game 1 to tonight, you can see signs of improvement. We were right there, we had a nine-point lead. If we hit a couple of more shots, build the lead to 12 or 13, maybe things are different."
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