Jonas Jerebko takes revenge for the victory of the Warriors on Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY – Less than four months after being sidelined by the Jazz, Warriors forward Jonas Jerebko took his revenge Friday night, giving Kevin Durant a missed rider advantage to allow Golden State to take it to 124-123 on his old team.

After completing an after-match interview on the Vivint Smart Home Arena court, Jerebko stopped in front of the tunnel, grabbed his right armband and threw it at a kid dressed in a suit. a Golden State jersey. It will be a lasting reminder to this young fan of a night that Jerebko will surely not forget so soon.

Three nights after being scoreless in the Warriors' first win against Oklahoma City, Jerebko had 10 points in 4 out of 5 shots with six rebounds in 24 minutes. His latest heroic performance overshadowed Durant's workhorse performances (38 points, seven assists, nine rebounds), Stephen Curry (31 points, eight assists) and Draymond Green (14 points, nine rebounds, six assists).

Without Jerebko's information with 0.3 seconds left, Golden State would have spent the post-game lamenting its ugly defense. In their first game on the road of the season, the Warriors shot 56.3% on the field and 52.6% at three points, before being almost canceled by many errors on the other side of the ball.

With Joe Stevens's seven points in the lead, Utah shot 19 of 46 from behind. He scored 81 points in the first half, including 47 in the second quarter, while Golden State was visibly frustrated.

After being ranked in the top five in the NBA for four consecutive years, Golden State's defense dropped to eleventh place last season. The problem was more about the warriors' effort than anything that was schematic. During the pre-season, Kerr became frustrated by the repeated failure of his players to get out of free throws, return to transitional defense and fight through the screens.

Last Sunday, after seeing Golden State surrender 119 points to the Lakers for a shot at 53.3 percent – 9 against 17 – at three points – Kerr added a defense-focused segment for his team. to train before the scrum. Although the Warriors were much better on the defensive in the win against the Russell Westbrook Under-Thunder at the opening of Tuesday's season, they disappeared from that side of the ball early in the third quarter, giving up a sheet of 22-9.

Utah, home to one of the noisiest crowds in the NBA, was Golden State's first big litmus test. After making no major moves outside of the season, the Jazz should build on their first-round win over Oklahoma City.

Although Utah tends to win with stingy defense, its offensive seems to have understood the Warriors' heavy switching pattern. Last season, Golden State lost 1 to 3 against the Jazz, with these three losses amassed by a total of 89 points.

After scoring 34 points in the first quarter on Friday, Utah was at its best pick-and-pop, repeatedly finding open shooters along the perimeter. In the second quarter, the Jazz recorded 10 three-point shots, the highest number ever recorded in franchise history. At the half-time finish, Utah tied a Warriors opponent record with 47 points for the second quarter.

In the middle of the third quarter, Golden State finally awoke from his defensive slumber, releasing 15-2 to bring the deficit by 16 points to three. It was only a few seconds later that Ingles, who was known as the league's best shooter two weeks ago, suffered a 37-foot push as Utah's first-half strike sounded. a place 81-69.

The Jazz pushed their advantage to 111-101 in the middle of the fourth quarter, but the Warriors only needed a little more than two minutes to regain the lead. Golden State, however, continued to struggle to get their hands on the shooters, while Ingles and Ricky Rubio scored three points to give Utah a five-point cushion with 3:21 left to go.

But it is Jerebko, which was raised in July so that the Jazz could save a little more than 4 million dollars, which would change the deal.