Four down, 12 to go.
The Golden State Warriors have been the best team in the league all season. But that was the case last year too. And as we saw in The 2016 Finals, being the best team doesn’t matter if you don’t finish the job.
After sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round and getting a full week off, the Warriors will face the only team that has beat them in the last seven weeks (20 games).
The Utah Jazz have taken a big step forward this season, with an improved offense, improved depth, an better record in close games, and a Game 7 win on the road. A series vs. the Warriors is another opportunity for growth.
If they’re going to be more than a speed bump on the Warriors’ path back to The Finals, they’ll need to slow down the No. 1 offense of the regular season or score against the No. 1 defense of the first round.
Warriors-Jazz series hub | Scott Howard-Cooper’s series preview
Here are some statistical notes to get you ready for Warriors-Jazz, with links to let you dive in and explore more.
Pace = Possessions per 48 minutes
OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions
Golden State Warriors (67-15)
First round: Beat Portland in four games.
Pace: 104.9 (1)
OffRtg: 114.6 (3)
DefRtg: 96.3 (1)
NetRtg: +18.3 (1)
Regular season: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
vs. Utah: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
Playoffs: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
Warriors first round notes:
Held the Blazers to 96.3 points scored per 100 possessions, 11.6 fewer than they scored in the regular season. That was the biggest OffRtg drop from the regular season to the first round.
Played four of the eight fastest paced games in the first round.
Best first quarter team in the first round, outscoring the Blazers by 28.1 points per 100 possessions in the first 12 minutes.
Set only 39.3 ball screens per game, fewest in the first round and not a big change from their league-low average of 40.5 in the regular season. But they scored 1.16 points per possession when they set a ball screen, the best mark in the first round.
Led the first round with 10.3 blocks per game and allowed the Blazers to shoot only 49 percent in the restricted area, the lowest rate in the first round. Draymond Green led all individuals in the first round with 4.3 blocks per game and Portland shot just 4-for-17 at the rim when JaVale McGee was there to defend it.
Starting lineup was together for just two games (Kevin Durant missed Games 2 and 3), but had the best raw plus-minus in the first round, outscoring the Blazers by 36 points in its 25 minutes.
Stephen Curry had an effective field goal percentage of 68.3 percent on pull-up jumpers, the best mark among players who attempted at least 25 in the first round.
The 12.0 points Curry averaged in the third quarter were the most any player averaged in any quarter in the first round.
After shooting 31 percent from 3-point range in the regular season, Green shot 11-for-20 (55 percent), the best mark among players with at least 20 attempts in the first round.
Green and Andre Iguodala recorded assists on 38 and 36 percent of their possessions, respectively. Those were the second and third highest assist rates among players that logged at least 15 minutes per game in three or more games in the first round.
See Warriors-Blazers preview for regular season notes.
Utah Jazz (51-31)
First round: Beat LA Clippers in seven games.
Pace: 91.8 (13)
OffRtg: 108.0 (7)
DefRtg: 106.2 (7)
NetRtg: +1.8 (6)
Regular season: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
vs. Golden State: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
Playoffs: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups
Jazz first round notes:
Took just 57.5 percent of their shots from the restricted area or 3-point range, down from 65.8 percent in the regular season. That was the biggest drop-off from the regular season to the first round.
Only 7.6 percent of their possessions were in transition, the lowest rate in the first round.
Shot 7-for-15 on clutch 3-pointers. Joe Johnson shot 8-for-11 on clutch shots and his four clutch assists were the most in the first round.
Outscored the Clippers by 35 points in 253 minutes with George Hill on the floor and were outscored by 27 points in 83 minutes with Hill on the bench.
Derrick Favors (23-for-29), Gordon Hayward (14-for-18) and Rudy Gobert (15-for-20) were three of 15 players to shoot better than 70 percent on at least 15 shots in the restricted area in the first round. No team shot better in the restricted area, but no team took a lower percentage of their shots from the restricted area.
Johnson is the only player with at least 50 field goal attempts in the playoffs with less than 10 percent of his shots coming from the restricted area, but leads the postseason in shots (both made and attempted) elsewhere in the paint.
Johnson shot the ball 47 percent of the time when using a ball screen, the second highest rate (behind only that of C.J. McCollum) in the first round among players that used at least 50 ball screens. Joe Ingles passed the ball 79 percent of the time, the highest rate among that same group.
Hayward’s 21 points in the first quarter of Game 3 were tied (with Paul George’s 21 in the second quarter Game 3 vs. Cleveland) for the most scored in a quarter in the first round.
Hayward was one of two players (Kawhi Leonard was the other) to shoot 40 percent or better on at least 25 3-point attempts and 90 percent or better on at least 25 free throw attempts in the first round.
See Clippers-Jazz preview for regular season notes.
The matchup
Season series: Warriors won 2-1 (1-1 at Golden State)
Dec. 8 @ UTA – Warriors 106, Jazz 99
Dec. 20 @ GSW – Warriors 104, Jazz 74
Apr. 10 @ GSW – Jazz 105, Warriors 99
Pace: 97.5
GSW OffRtg: 106.9 (10th vs. UTA)
UTA OffRtg: 94.0 (25th vs. GSW)
Matchup notes:
Hayward and Rodney Hood both missed the first and third meetings, while Hill missed the first and second meetings, and Derrick Favors didn’t play in any of the three games. The only significant Golden State absence in any of the three was Klay Thompson (rest) in the April meeting.
The Warriors’ effective field goal percentage of 53.2 percent was the highest for any West team against the Jazz.
Utah’s 94.0 points scored per 100 possessions was their lowest output against any Western Conference opponent. They shot 24 percent from mid-range (the worst mark for any team against the Warriors).
The Warriors won the first halves by a total of 43 points, holding a 25-point lead in the Dec. 8 meeting and a 37-point lead in the Dec. 20 meeting. The Jazz won the second halves by a total of 12 points.
The Jazz scored just 67.1 points per 100 possessions (shooting 17-for-56) in 33.5 minutes with the Warriors’ four All-Stars on the floor.
Utah’s win on April 10 was the fourth slowest-paced game the Warriors played in the regular season.
Rudy Gobert was one of two players to average at least 15 points and 15 rebounds against the Warriors and his 17.3 boards were his highest average against any opponent.
The Warriors shot 15-for-25 (60 percent) at the rim when Gobert was there, the best any team shot against Gobert’s rim protection.
In the game he played, Hayward shot 2-for-10 (0-for-6 from 3-point range) and was a minus-23 in 27 minutes.
John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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