SALT LAKE CITY, Sporting Alert — It was another sweep and more rest for Golden State after the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 121-95 to complete a 4-0 series and advance in their Western Conference semifinals on Monday night.
Stephen Curry scored 30 points on 15 shots to go with seven assists and five rebounds, and Klay Thompson added 21 for the Warriors, who eliminate the Jazz and sweep back-to-back series for the first time in the franchise history.
Kevin Durant finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five and Green registered a triple-double with 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for Golden State, which also swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.
Also reaching double figures in scoring for the Western Conference No. 1 seed was JaVale McGee, who chipped in 12 points in 11-minutes off the bench.
“We have a lot of talent. We have guys that try to do it by committee. That’s our approach to every game,” Curry was quoted as saying.
“We never know who’s going to have a hot night. We try to move the ball, use each other to create open shots, and when we do that, the ball is hopping and a lot of good things happen.”
Gordon Hayward scored 25 points for Utah, which never led and trailed by as many as 26 points during the game.
“They’re a historically great team,” Hayward admitted. “You have to be almost perfect on every possession or else they turn it into an 8-0 run, 9-0 run or 10-0 run, so you can’t have mental lapses against a team like this.
“It will be a great learning experience for us to realize this is what it takes. It can be one mental lapse and it turns the game, turns the momentum.”
Shelvin Mack added 18 for the Jazz, Dante Exum scored 15 points off the bench, and Rudy Gobert contributed a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who missed 56 shots and shot 37.1 percent from the floor.
Utah, which was outpaced 19-4 in fast break points, was 8-for-27 from 3-point range for 29.6 percent.
“One of the things we kept telling our guys is we didn’t want them to be comfortable offensively,” acting Warriors head coach Mike Brown told reporters.
“We wanted to get up into them and force the issue.”
The Warriors shot 51.2 percent from the field, while knocking down 11 3-pointers and had 28 assists on 43 made baskets.
Utah was again without guard George Hill, who missed his third successive game with a left big toe sprain, while fellow guard Rodney Hood picked up a knee sprain early in the fourth quarter and did not return.
Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conference Finals where they will face the winner of the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets series.
ESPN NBA GAME STATS: Box Score | Play-by-Play | Team Stats | Videos
