Utah still in funk, fall to Warriors

The All-Star break doesn’t seem to have helped the Utah Jazz as they’ve stumbled out of the second-half gate.

Losing 131-119 to Golden State on Sunday shows the Jazz are still in the funk that’s led to four losses in the last six games. The common theme in these games is defense, or lack thereof to use the cliche.

The Warriors shot 51.6 percent from three (16/31) and 56.2 percent overall. The Jazz themselves were decent offensively but they know full well what happens when teams make a high percentage of 3-pointers.

Once GS had built its lead, Utah couldn’t string enough defensive stops together to catch up. Twice in the third quarter, the Jazz cut the lead to six (80-74 and 89-83) only for the Warriors to bump their lead back up to double-digits, both times within a minute.

Utah put together an even better run at the lead in the fourth quarter. From down nine points, 95-86, the Jazz outscored Golden State 12-4 to cut it down to 99-98. Utah stuck with it to be down just 103-102 with 7:36 left, but that would be as close as they got. The Warriors went on a 9-2 run and that cushion carried them the rest of the way.

Game MVP

There’s really only one answer to this and y’all already know who it is. Gobert made a run at Truck Robinson’s Jazz record for single-game rebounds. He tied Robinson’s 1977 record of 27 rebounds that predates the team’s move to the Wasatch Mountains.

Aside from the rebounding, Gobert's most impressive stat-line was his plus/minus. He was +13 in a 12-point loss. His other stats were just as good, finishing with 24 points, the aforementioned 27 rebounds, four blocks and two steals.