Utah @ Golden State preview
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Last Meeting ( Mar 14, 2021 ) Utah 119, Golden State 131
In the closing stretch of their quest for their first Western Conference title in 23 years, the Utah Jazz will hit the road for a clash with the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
It will be a meeting of teams on a roll as the Jazz have won five games in a row and six of their past seven, while the Warriors have found renewed vigor with victories in four of five and six of their past nine.
The Jazz (50-18) will enter off a 124-116 victory Saturday over the Houston Rockets, but their statement victory came Friday in a 127-120 victory at home over the surging Denver Nuggets, who are fourth in the conference.
With four regular-season games remaining, three on the road, the conference-leading Jazz had a 1 1/2-game lead over the second-place Phoenix Suns entering Sunday.
The last time the Jazz claimed a Western Conference title was in 1998, when they went back-to-back as conference champs. The Jazz lost in the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls that season, the second consecutive season they played in the Finals, only to lose.
The Jazz haven't been as far as the Western Conference finals since, but they are showing they might have what it takes to make a deep run this season. Their late-season charge has come without guards Donovan Mitchell (ankle injury) and Mike Conley (hamstring) playing in any of the last six games. Mitchell has been out since April 16.
Their absence has required others to step into the fray, with Georges Niang scoring a team-high 24 on Saturday for Utah. He entered with an average of 4.9 points per game over his five-season career and ended up matching his career high.
"It's a true testament to all the guys we have in the locker room, especially with the injuries we have," Niang said. "Everybody's stepping up."
Jordan Clarkson added 21 for the Jazz, while Bojan Bogdanovic continued to extend himself with 20 points. Bogdanovic has averaged 16.9 points per game this season, but he has averaged 23.8 in the 12 games Mitchell has missed, including a career-best 48 on Friday.
"With (Mitchell) out, I know I'm going to have more shots than I used to have this season, so I can be a little bit patient," Bogdanovic said. "I don't have to hunt my shot and take bad shots."
The Warriors (35-33) are close to locking up a spot in the play-in tournament as the No. 8 team in the Western Conference, but they only held a half-game margin over the No. 9 Memphis Grizzlies at the start of NBA play Sunday.
The Warriors are making their case to stay out of the lower bracket of the play-in tournament, making a franchise-best 27 3-pointers Saturday in a 136-97 home victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Stephen Curry made 11 of those 3s and had 49 points.
Curry has averaged 31.9 points per game this season, but it is up to 37.7 per game in his past 15 contests since he scored 53 against the Denver Nuggets on April 12.
"Offensively, it's just trying to create any kind of space, and when you see the first two go down, you start to find another level of confidence," Curry said. "You try to create an avalanche from there. We did a good job of sharing the ball (Saturday) and taking care of it, and we got great opportunities every possession."
--Field Level Media