Utah Jazz win in a thriller over the Warriors

The Utah Jazz defeated the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night 124-123. It was a back and forth game and it looked like the Jazz were going to lose after going down by 4 points with .13 seconds left. But with with some late game heroics by Jazz newcomers Malik Beasley and Simone Fontecchio, they were able to escape with the win.

For Golden State, the loss drops them to 13-13 for the season. Even though they leave Salt Lake City with a loss, the fact that they played as well as they did without three starters(Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins) is a scary thought. Guard Jordan Poole led all scorers with 36 points and Jonathan Kuminga chipped in 24 points off the bench. Other than that the Warriors only had one other player in double figures. Lack of scoring wasn’t the reason the Warriors lost the game though, the defense coughing up a four point lead in the final .13 seconds is going to be a bitter pill to swallow between now and the next game for Golden State.

The Jazz improve their record to 15-12 with the win, which comes after a 4 day layoff. Utah was missing two critical players of their own in Mike Conley and Lauri Markkanen. The team turned in a much more balanced performance with Jordan Clarkson leading the charge with 22 points and all five starters scoring in double figures. Perhaps the most impressive player of the night was Simone Fontecchio, who chipped in 18 points and going 3-6 from three. His biggest bucket came with the Jazz down one and the Warriors inbounding the ball. After Nickeil Alexander-Walker knocked the ball loose from Jordan Poole, Malik Beasley took the ball and hit Fontecchio in transition and he made the game-winning dunk. What a play!

The Warriors are back home for a Finals rematch with the Boston Celtics on Saturday and the Jazz will try to prepare for the much anticipated return of Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. Hopefully the Jazz can also anticipate the return of Lauri Markkanen and Mike Conley and keep the wins coming, GO JAZZ!