{"id":6583,"date":"2017-05-11T13:35:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T17:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=6583"},"modified":"2017-05-11T13:35:03","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T17:35:03","slug":"golden-state-warriors-sweep-utah-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/05\/11\/golden-state-warriors-sweep-utah-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Draymond Green Shines as Golden State Warriors Sweep Utah Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/warriors\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">Golden State Warriors <\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">completed a sweep of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/jazz\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">Utah Jazz <\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">Monday night to move on to the Western Conference Finals.<\/span><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #222222; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">The Warriors&#8217; offense was brilliant, as usual, led by <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a><\/strong> (27.1 points per game) and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a><\/strong> (23.3 PPG).\u00a0However, it was the\u00a0defensive excellence of forward <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Draymond Green<\/a><\/strong> that really stood out. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Draymond Green Shines as Golden State Warriors Sweep Utah Jazz<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">It was, by all accounts,\u00a0an uneventful series. Some, including NBA Hall of Famers <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barklch01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charles Barkley<\/a><\/span><\/strong> <span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">and <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/onealsh01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaquille O&#8217;Neal<\/a><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">, even described\u00a0it as\u00a0boring. During Monday night&#8217;s broadcast of <em>Inside The NBA<\/em>, the two TNT analysts expressed\u00a0disappointment\u00a0over the lack of competitiveness\u00a0in both the Warriors&#8217; and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/CLE\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>&#8216; series (both teams are\u00a08-0 in the postseason). Barkley went so far as to\u00a0call the Warriors-Jazz series\u00a0&#8220;a nightmare.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2njGmjYmk3Y&#038;feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">After Game 4, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">Durant<\/span> <span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">and Green (who is often cast as Barkley&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2017\/05\/https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2016\/09\/Top-Shelf-Prospects.jpg-barkley-draymond-green-warriors-comparisons-defense-cmon-man-twitter-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nemesis<\/a>) <\/span><span style=\"color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;\">were asked about the\u00a0panelists&#8217; comments\u00a0and responded in an unsurprisingly dismissive and snarky fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Have the Warriors&#39; playoff games been boring?<br \/>Kevin Durant: &quot;Zzzzzzzzzzzz&quot;<br \/>Draymond Green: &quot;Bla, bla, bla, bla.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2R3O2YPkVF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2R3O2YPkVF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenGolliver\/status\/861800106332348416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Notably, Green\u00a0himself has commented\u00a0on the lack of competitiveness in this year&#8217;s playoffs. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/19338500\/draymond-green-wishes-cleveland-cavaliers-opponents-more-competitive\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Per Chris Haynes of ESPN.com<\/a>, Green\u00a0criticized the quality of Cleveland&#8217;s two postseason opponents, describing the Cavaliers&#8217; series wins as one-sided. Green&#8217;s comments may have been an\u00a0attempt to get an early mental advantage over the Cavaliers, as the two teams are likely to be competing for the NBA championship come June. However, with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in\u00a0a self-imposed social media <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingJames\/status\/853090535652941825\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftweetdeck.twitter.com%2F%23\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blackout<\/a>, Green&#8217;s words are unlikely to have the intended effect.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Shorthanded and Outplayed<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The Jazz never had a chance in this series. Putting aside the fact that Golden State is\u00a0a ridiculously stacked team expected to breeze to the NBA championship, the Jazz faced a number of other obstacles.<\/p>\n<p>Center <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a><\/strong> was not 100 percent, coming off knee and ankle injuries sustained in the Jazz\u2019s first-round series against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/clippers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Point guard <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hillge01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">George Hill<\/a><\/strong> missed the last three games of the series due to a reccurring toe injury.\u00a0Hill&#8217;s unavailability\u00a0had a significant impact on the Jazz\u2019s already low-scoring offense.\u00a0The ninth-year veteran\u00a0averaged 16.9 points and 4.1 assists during the regular season for the Jazz, and 16.9 points and 3.7 assists during the first round of postseason play. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/macksh01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shelvin Mack<\/a><\/strong> started in\u00a0Hill&#8217;s\u00a0place in Games 2-4 against the Warriors and simply could not fill Hill&#8217;s shoes.<\/p>\n<p>Without Hill, the Jazz struggled to score. Utah\u00a0did have a few nice runs led by All-Star\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haywago01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gordon Hayward<\/a><\/strong>, but the games never felt competitive or particularly close. The Warriors won\u00a0by an average of 15 points per game.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Green Dominates Defensively<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Green was exceptional, proving himself worthy of inclusion among the more elite players in the NBA. In the regular season, Green averaged a respectable\u00a010.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game. In the postseason, he\u00a0has been\u00a0even more impressive, averaging\u00a014.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.6 blocks per game.<\/p>\n<p>Green was particularly dominant on defense. The Defensive Player of the Year front-runner is\u00a0notably good at reading opponents\u2019 offense. He roams the court like a\u00a0shark waiting to attack. Green was especially effective on rotation against the Jazz, successfully dulling the offensive impact of Hayward and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsjo02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Johnson<\/a><\/strong>. He also defended exceptionally well at the rim and had no difficulty handling post-ups by <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/favorde01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Favors<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/diawbo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boris Diaw<\/a><\/strong>. Utah scored only 95 points per 100 possessions with Green on the floor, connecting on just 52 percent of its shots inside of five feet, <a href=\"http:\/\/stats.nba.com\/vs\/advanced\/#!?TeamID=1610612762&amp;VsPlayerID=203110\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">per NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Gobert, who is also in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year honors, was not nearly as effective on defense for the Jazz. He was pulled out from under the basket by Golden State&#8217;s\u00a0pick-and-roll plays\u00a0and the mid-range shooting threat of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/westda01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David West<\/a><\/strong>. More often than not, the outcome was not pretty.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here&#39;s Steph Curry spinning Rudy Gobert in a circle before the reverse layup (vid via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealGM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@RealGM<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iYDETUAr8x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/iYDETUAr8x<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyVslater\/status\/859613690290520064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 3, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Coach Kerr&#8217;s Health Issues<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Warriors coach <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kerrst01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Kerr<\/a><\/strong> missed the entire Jazz series. He remains out indefinitely after having a spinal cord leak procedure at Duke University on May 5. Warriors assistant coach <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Brown<\/a><\/strong>, former head coach of the Cavaliers, has assumed Kerr\u2019s duties. Brown took over for Kerr after Game 2 of the first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>Kerr\u2019s health issues started approximately two years ago, after Golden State\u00a0won the 2014-15 NBA championship. Kerr suffered a ruptured disk in his back, requiring surgery. After the surgery, he began leaking cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which caused him to require additional surgery later in the year. Since that time, Kerr has continued to leak CSF and endured chronic neck pain, nausea, and severe headaches. Kerr\u2019s surgeries and medical complications previously caused him to miss the first 43 games of the Warriors\u2019 2015\u201316 season.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Next Up<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Golden State\u00a0will face the winner of the San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets series in the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs currently lead the series 3-2.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/541538964\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.835017% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/541538964?et=yHEEwKGhTSNi5wCeJNkv7A&amp;tld=ca&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=iv5j33HRR0C6ssFp7hhk6ZF-SOviVy94UaPbeER0uw8=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"397\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DPOY front-runner Draymond Green excelled in the second round as the Golden State Warriors sweep Utah Jazz to move on to the Western Conference Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1670,"featured_media":6625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2,62,24],"tags":[65,558,409,182,96,596,394,528,144],"class_list":["post-6583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-featured","category-nba","category-jazz","tag-basketball","tag-defensive-player-of-the-year","tag-draymond-green","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-steve-kerr","tag-utah-jazz"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1670"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}