Thursday, December 27, 2012
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Warriors beat Jazz 94-83

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[December 27, 2012]  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Stephen Curry scored 23 points, David Lee added 18 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 94-83 on Wednesday night.

Curry set the tone by scoring the Warriors' first 11 points. He hit two 3-pointers and made three free throws after being fouled on another shot beyond the arc -- all in less than a minute.

Jarrett Jack and Klay Thompson had 15 points each for the Warriors, who dominated on the fast break and hit 9 of 18 3-point attempts.

Al Jefferson led Utah with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Paul Millsap added 14 points.

The Warriors led by as many as 15 points in the first half, and took a 75-58 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Warriors let a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead slip away Saturday in a 118-115 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

This time they kept piling it on.

Curry showed how important it was to keep the pressure on, getting hit hard on a fastbreak layup and giving an emphatic fist pump as the ball dropped through the net and bumped Golden State's lead to 82-62 with 9:10 left.

Game over.

The Jazz, meanwhile, looked like a team that struggled to go 2-2 on a recent road trip that saw them outscored by 20 against Indiana and by 16 against Miami.

They had to rally from 16 down Sunday to beat Orlando.

Curry added eight rebounds, seven assists and a steal.

Curry scored the Warriors' first 11 points as they took an 11-7 lead then went up 16-9 on Harrison Barnes' 3-pointer -- Golden State's third of the quarter.

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Jefferson kept Utah in the game early with eight points and four rebounds.

The game got nasty in the second quarter when Utah's Enes Kanter grabbed an offensive rebound and swung his elbows wide at Carl Landry. Derrick Favors went to defend teammate Kanter but ended up in a shoving match with Jack, a fellow Georgia Tech player.

Favors and Jack were assessed double technicals and Kanter his own technical, with Jack making the free throw for a 32-23 lead with 9:19 left in the half.

Consecutive baskets by Millsap and a 3-pointer by Gordon Hayward helped Utah get within five points but the Warriors hit two more 3s -- by Jack and Thompson -- to take a 49-37 halftime lead.

Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, the Jazz hitting 15 of 41 shots and the Warriors 15 of 39. But Golden State made 7 of 9 from 3-point range, including 3 of 4 by Curry.

The Jazz committed eight first-half turnovers and were outscored 16-0 on the break in the opening 24 minutes.

NOTES: Jazz PG Mo Williams missed his second straight game with a severely sprained right thumb. . The Jazz shot just 33.3 percent in the first quarter and 29 percent in the third. ... Marvin Williams continued to struggle for the Jazz, hitting just 1 of 6 shots.. ... The loss was Utah's third at home this season.

[Associated Press; By LYNN DeBRUIN]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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