Durant scores 25 as Warriors take 2-0 lead over Utah Jazz

WASHINGTON, USA – Draymond Green keyed an early surge as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Utah Jazz 115-104 on Thursday to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Western Conference second-round playoff series.

Green drained 5 three-pointers en route to 21 points as the Warriors remained unbeaten in 6 games this post-season.

Kevin Durant added 25 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, while Stephen Curry had 23 points and 7 assists for Golden State, who raced to an early lead and stifled Utah’s attempts to come back.

Gordon Hayward shook off a slow start to score 33 points for Utah, who were without injured point guard George Hill.

Rudy Gobert added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz before fouling out in the waning seconds.

By then, the Warriors had rebuilt their lead to 12 points after seeing it dwindle to 7 with 1:45 to play.

Throughout the contest the Warriors had an answer for every threat from the Jazz – despite some sloppy defense and 17 turnovers that led to 22 Utah points.

“It wasn’t easy,” said Warriors coach Mike Brown – standing in for ailing head coach Steve Kerr. “We felt it. We know we can play better. We broke down in a lot of areas where we should have been better.

“We did some nice things,” Brown added. “We had 33 assists, we held them to 5 offensive rebounds. We got the ‘W’.”

The Warriors’ biggest scare came when Green took a hard fall in the fourth quarter, then seemed to slip as he rose and grabbed his left knee.

He eventually returned to the court – a good sign for the Warriors, who will try to stretch their lead in the best-of-7 series in Game 3 on Saturday in Salt Lake City. – Rappler.com