Utah Jazz beat Warriors for the eighth consecutive victory, and then slap the talk of being a title contender

After steaming at halftime to a 30-point lead, a 40-point lead after three quarters, and then fought Saturday night at Vivint Arena, the Utah Jazz, to a 127-108 victory over Golden State – now winners of eight matches in a row – fly high.

Maybe a little too much.

It is, after all, a group whose unofficial team mantra is ‘Never too high, never too low’. But after improving the season 12-4 with a win that was nowhere near as good as the final score might have made it appear, the Jazz suddenly face a striking expectation, despite the prospect of Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.

And so it was that the coach and players of Utah, after the victory, wanted to put everything in perspective before the growing story becomes an 18-wheeler going downhill with non-functioning brakes.

“Was not [even] a quarter of the way through the season. I’m not trying to dampen enthusiasm – it’s OK to feel good about how you play. But there’s a long season ahead, it’s a marathon, and there are games where it clicks like tonight and there are other games you have to hone, “said coach Quin Snyder.” And I just want to have that we should stay steady.Not too high, not too low.The fact that we are playing well now is a good thing, but the challenge is to continue to play well, and that is what we are looking for . ‘

But it’s also hard not to go overboard when the coach of the NBA’s latest dynasty now compares your team to his team.

Before the game on Saturday, Steve Kerr of the Warriors was asked to try to find a balance between the patience he needed to develop his young talent, with the urgent requirement to win a few more games. He noted that each team should have a good idea of ​​their place in the food chain, and pointed out the difference between his own group and the Jazz.

‘[Utah] is a veteran team. “They are currently trying to win a championship, and I think they are capable of that,” Kerr said. ‘To watch them on tape, the continuity they have compared to where we are, it’s day and night, just with execution. You know, they were where we were three, four years ago. ‘

Lots of praise – which the Jazz then went out and made for the time being.

Aside from an extremely sloppy, garbage-ridden fourth quarter plagued by turnover and with 7-for-19 shooting from the deep reserves, it was a dominant performance in many ways.

To begin with, the Warriors, before throwing away fourth, made just 29 of 70 shots (41.4%). As for Utah, a team that had already set league records for shooting by three points was again out of the arc and finished 20 of 50. The Jazz picked up 77 points at halftime.

Notable non-superstar Donovan Mitchell threw in 23 points in 27 minutes, while also somehow managing to add seven rebounds and six assists, despite having no ability to influence games other than to get money.

His half-dozen cents were unfortunately just the second-best point in the team, as Bojan Bogdanovic put together a new career high with eight (with 14 points and seven rebounds).

Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds. Mike Conley dropped 17 points and played an excellent defense from the perimeter. The sixth man, Jordan Clarkson, added 14 off the bench. Co-reserve Joe Ingles fell 13 points – all after the break, three of which came on an open draw after breaking Kent Bazemore’s ankles, lovingly calling the broadcast crew ‘the world’s slowest crossover’.

‘Yes, I mean, it’s obviously not a constant part of my game. “I think Rudy probably just stumbled upon him, to be honest,” Ingles said, apparently fascinated by a question about it. “I don’t think any of my moves are so cool that anyone would go so bad – let’s be honest.”

As for the Jazz’s victory on Saturday and his bigger picture of where they stand …

‘Honestly, on the next one. That was good, [but] there are still things we can look at. “We will watch movies and there are things we know we did not do so well, things that we can do 10 out of 10 times better instead of nine out of ten,” Ingles added. ‘Of course we are a confident team and trust in the style we play. We’re going to miss shots, we’ll make shots sometimes, but I think our defense was pretty consistent – it was tonight, of course. And we could make shots too. If we go on both sides, we are a tough team to play against. ”

Mitchell confirmed this, saying he appreciated Kerr’s praise, but that he was not ready to give such high comparisons to an eight-game winning streak.

“We have our inspiration and moments. … But we have a way of going – in a good way. We really do a lot of things the right way, but there are things we can do better, ”he said. ‘… It’s definitely a compliment, but the biggest thing is that we only focus on what we do. We are not trying to repeat what they did in Golden State. We are not even past the second round yet. … It’s definitely a big compliment from coach Kerr, but we consider it to be game by game, step by step, bit by bit. It’s a long season – we’ve only played 16 games, and anything can happen. We must therefore remain locked up and stay where we are. And with that, with the small details, will come success. ”