Oakland, Calif. ? Whatever momentum the Jazz had hoped to carry into the All-Star break had been thrown in the San Francisco Bay by the end of Sunday night's game.
The Golden State Warriors broke open a tied game with an 18-2 run in the third quarter and ran circles around the Jazz the rest of the way with an 116-96 rout at Oracle Arena that brought an end to Utah's three-game winning streak. The Jazz had beaten Golden State eight of the last nine times they had played dating to the 2007 Western Conference semifinals. The Warriors came in giving up 111.3 points on 46.5 percent shooting, but the Jazz shot only 41.8 percent with 18 turnovers.
Not only did they fail to build on Friday's victory at Sacramento and dropped to 9-17 on the road, the Jazz also fell out of playoff position. They now trail Phoenix by a half-game after the Suns beat Detroit 107-97 on the road.
Deron Williams finished with 31 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds -- his fourth consecutive 30-point scoring game -- but the Jazz were embarrassed in the fourth quarter as Golden State stretched its lead to 25 points
Jamal Crawford went scoreless in the first half, but scored 11 of Golden State's points during the tide-turning 18-2 run. He started by converting all three free throws after C.J. Miles fouled him on a three-pointer.
The Jazz called timeout with 5:42 left after Williams missed a three-pointer and Monta Ellis ran for a layup at he other end to make it 64-58. Kyle Korver replaced Miles out of the timeout and dropped a pass to Okur inside that the Jazz center coughed up.
Corey Maggette pushed ahead and earned a trip to the foul line as Williams tried to take a charge and drew his third foul. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan sent Ronnie Price for Williams with 5:29 to go in the quarter, but Williams had to return not even two minutes later.
Okur was called for an offensive foul trying to back down Maggette and Crawford proceeded to bury back-to-back three-pointers over Price. The second came as Crawford twice crossed over Price with his dribble and buried a jumper while falling to the floor.
That made it 74-60 as the Jazz called timeout again. They went inside to Matt Harpring, who was blocked by Maggette. At the other end, Crawford drove on Kyle Korver and earned a trip to the foul line, capping the Warriors' run.
Maggette finished with 24 points off the bench while Jackson had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. The Warriors had seven players score in double figures and scored 116 points while hitting only six three-pointers.
The Jazz missed seven shots and committed three turnovers during the run. Golden State won the third quarter 38-24 and converted the Jazz's 18 turnovers into 34 points for the night.
Utah had obvious mismatches, with forwards Maggette and Jackson matched up against center Okur, but couldn't take full advantage and went into halftime trailing 48-45, having made just 18 of 46 shots (39.1 percent).
rsiler@sltrib.com
