Across the Bay — Warriors 123, Jazz 114: Curry’s third-quarter eruption resets the night
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The Warriors didn’t look like themselves for an entire half on Saturday — then Stephen Curry turned a restless game into something ordered.
Golden State erased a halftime deficit and beat the Utah Jazz 123–114 at Chase Center behind Curry’s 31 points and a third quarter that functioned like a hard reset. The Warriors won the period 42–31, played Utah to 18 points in the fourth, and found a version of their identity that hadn’t been there early: connected, competitive, and controlled.
The setup carried some weight. A night earlier, the Warriors had been routed, and Steve Kerr didn’t romanticize it pregame: “It’s just no fun just getting demolished… it’s part of it, but doesn’t feel good.” He framed the response simply — turn the page, lock into Utah, compete.
It took 24 minutes for the second part to show up.
Game flow: Utah’s first-half purpose, Warriors’ second-half clarity
Utah played the cleaner first half. The Jazz scored 29 in the first quarter and 36 in the second, with Lauri Markkanen repeatedly punishing space and switches. Markkanen finished with 35 points on 15-of-27 shooting, a steady reminder that size plus touch forces decisions every possession.
Keyonte George added another layer of stress. Kerr flagged the challenge pregame, calling George “quick,” “shooting the ball well,” and a guard who demands attention because Utah runs “a lot of offball actions.” George delivered: 22 points and nine assists, a mix of shotmaking and creation that kept the Warriors from ever getting comfortable in the first half.
Golden State’s issue wasn’t just makes and misses — it was the feel. Postgame, Kerr said the first half “went through the motions” and that “the spirit wasn’t right.” That wasn’t an abstract critique; it showed up as a team that didn’t consistently play with the same purpose on both ends.
Then the game narrowed to the simplest thing: execute, defend, and let Curry’s reads do the organizing.
Turning Point
The turning point was the third quarter — not as a highlight reel, but as a tactical simplification that flipped the entire night.
Curry described it like a veteran solving a puzzle in real time: “got some clean looks and then understood what they were trying to do defensively… take advantage of switches.” With Draymond Green out early (12:04 before an ejection), Curry said the adjustment was direct: “I just ran a lot of pick and roll. Kept it pretty simple… predictable offense… less chaos… necessary adjustment with him out.”
That simplicity mattered. It created early-clock advantages, reduced the possessions that can drift into “organized chaos,” and let the Warriors play downhill before Utah could fully get set.
Curry also tied the swing to defense — and the math of momentum. “We played great defense for most of that quarter,” he said, which opened “transition opportunities… beat the defense where they get set up.” The result was the decisive stretch: Golden State outscored Utah 42–31 in the third, grabbed the game by the collar, and carried the edge into a fourth quarter they won by holding Utah to 18.
Kerr didn’t pretend it was a masterclass of playcalling: “It wasn’t me… it wasn’t like play calls or anything. It was just Steph.”
Stars first, then the pieces that made the comeback real
Curry led the night with 31 points on 8-of-18 shooting, 6-of-12 from three, and 9-of-9 at the line. But the win wasn’t only about his scoring — it was about how the Warriors filled in the gaps around the surge.
Jimmy Butler III supplied stability more than volume: 15 points and seven assists. Kerr’s postgame emphasis on late-game offense wasn’t theoretical — it was a statement about what the Warriors need to lean on to reduce variance: “We have to start getting the ball to Jimmy more down the stretch… there’s nobody better in the league at protecting the ball, getting to the foul line, controlling the game… and we haven’t done a good enough job of that, frankly… that’s on me.”
In a season defined by tight margins, that’s not just strategy — it’s identity. Control the possession, control the temperature of the game.
De’Anthony Melton added the type of two-way contribution that changes the texture of a night: 13 points (three made threes), seven rebounds, and two steals in 24:34. Curry framed it as inevitability, not surprise: “We know he can shoot… it’s a matter of time for him to get his rhythm… he's going to keep shooting.”
Quinten Post gave Golden State valuable spacing and efficiency: 15 points in 22:31, including 3-of-6 from deep. On a night where Utah’s size and activity could have choked off oxygen, Post’s makes helped keep the floor wide when the comeback started rolling.
Golden State also found help in smaller pockets — Gary Payton II’s rebounding (eight) and defense, and Brandin Podziemski’s eight assists — but the heartbeat was consistent: the Warriors got sharper after halftime, and their offense stopped feeling like a collection of attempts.
Opposition context: what Utah stressed, and what shifted
Utah’s path was clear: Markkanen’s scoring pressure plus George’s speed and creation. Markkanen’s 35 kept the Jazz within reach late, and George’s nine assists reflect the stress he created across matchups.
But once the Warriors simplified into more pick-and-roll reads and paired it with better defense, Utah’s windows narrowed. The fourth-quarter number tells the story cleanly: 18 points in the final frame, a closeout that Curry called out as decisive — “No matter how many points you score, you’re going to win a lot of games that way.”
Pulse Takeaway
This was not a flawless Warriors win. It was a revealing one.
They started poorly. They lost Draymond early. Kerr said Green is “up to about nine techs” and admitted, plainly: “we need him.” The Warriors still battled the problem that has lived with them for a decade — turnovers — and Curry explained why it’s so emotionally volatile: “the ones that are kind of mindless or just lead to… easy uncontested points… kill momentum.”
But Saturday also highlighted the version of Golden State that can survive imperfection: the one that finds connection, simplifies when necessary, and competes with enough collective urgency to make the game feel stable.
Kerr summarized the shift in one sentence: “the level of connection and competition… guys really connected, came together and put together a great 24 minutes.” When the Warriors play with that kind of shared purpose, the nights stop feeling fragile.
Forward look
At 18–17, the Warriors don’t have room for halves spent “going through the motions.” The formula is already in the quotes: compete, connect, simplify when needed, and use Butler’s control to lower the turnover tax — especially late.
Saturday didn’t prove the Warriors are fixed. It proved they still know what they look like when they’re right.
NOTES
Final: Warriors 123, Jazz 114.
Warriors entered 18–17; Jazz entered 12–21 (per provided notes).
Warriors won the third quarter 42–31 after trailing at halftime.
Curry: 31 points (6-of-12 from three), 9-of-9 FT; tied the third-quarter surge to cleaner looks, switch recognition, defense, and transition.
Markkanen: 35 points on 15-of-27 shooting; repeatedly punished space and switches.
Keyonte George: 22 points, nine assists; consistently pressured the Warriors with speed and creation.
Draymond Green: 12:04 before an ejection; Kerr said he’s “up to about nine techs” and emphasized the team needs him.
Melton: 13 points (three threes), seven rebounds, two steals; Curry emphasized rhythm and confidence after time missed.
Post: 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 3-of-6 from deep; valuable spacing during the comeback.
Kerr emphasized getting Butler the ball more late to protect possessions and control pace.