Stephen Curry made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 51.9 seconds left and the Warriors squeezed out a 106-103 win in Utah on Monday night.
The fourth quarter saw four ties and four lead changes, the last of which came on Curry’s clutch trey. That marked the last Warriors field goal of the game, and the Dubs got a game-saving stop when Draymond Green pulled down a rebound in traffic off a potential go-ahead Utah shot with five seconds left. Curry capped that possession with a pair of free throws and the Jazz’s desperation heave at the buzzer fell short, completing the Warriors’ 19th straight win to open the season.
The game had several heroes for the Warriors, some expected and others not so much. Curry had 10 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter, including a game-tying 3-pointer in the fourth quarter after Utah had stolen the game’s momentum. Green flirted with his third-straight triple-double but ultimately “settled” for 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Klay Thompson matched Curry’s four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points.
And without the contributions of Ian Clark and Shaun Livingston, the Warriors very well could have suffered their first regular season defeat since last April. Clark knocked down four straight 3-pointers in a 3:01 span late in the second quarter, giving the Dubs a much-needed boost when the team had struggled to shoot a decent percentage.
To Utah’s credit, the Jazz never went away. They grinded and grinded and went ahead by three with a 13-4 run in the fourth quarter. Curry answered with a trey and on the Dubs’ next possession, Shaun Livingston knocked down his first 3-pointer in nearly two calendar years to put the Warriors ahead. But again, the Jazz rallied and the back-and-forth nature of the game set up the thrilling finish.
The win completed the first undefeated full calendar month in Warriors history, and it also made the Dubs the sixth team in the NBA’s 70-year history to finish a month of at least 16 games with an undefeated record. The Dubs will take their winning streak with them as they continue their season-long seven-game road trip on Wednesday in Charlotte.
