Utah Jazz: Takeaways from Game 3 loss to Golden State Warriors
By Adam Coffman
The Utah Jazz returned home with intentions of making up their series defecit, but lost to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3. Why weren’t they able to take home the win?
After dropping the first two games of their second round playoff series on the road, the Utah Jazz knew they’d have to compete much harder in Game 3 to have a shot at victory.
Compete hard they did, but it was ultimately not enough, as they fell to the Golden State Warriors by a score of 102-91 that was really much closer than that for much of the contest.
Having never trailed for the first two games of the series, the Warriors again jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, leading 27-17 after 12 minutes of action.
However, the Jazz were able to close the deficit in the second period, even taking their first lead of the series at 48-47 and holding that advantage at halftime.
The score remained close throughout the third, with Utah down two points to start the last quarter. However, it was all Golden State from that point on, as they went on a 17-5 run over the game’s last four minutes.
Gordon Hayward led the Jazz in scoring with 29 points, while Kevin Durant enjoyed a career night for the opposing side in putting up 38. Stephen Curry and Rudy Gobert were the only others to hit 20 points in a game that was low-scoring by Golden State’s standards.
Down 3-0, the Jazz’s chances of winning the series look bleak, but before moving forward, let’s review what transpired in Game 3 to result in the loss.