Back to the future: Warriors vs. Jazz

The Golden State Warriors rattled off a nice win against the Utah Jazz on Monday. The Jazz may have been missing two of their top players, but beating the team with the best record in the league, when you’re in desperate need of every win possible, is emphatically a good thing.

But did the Dubs hit on my pregame keys to victory? There’s only one way to tell: by revisiting the preview and finding out.

Keep Gobert in check

The key: Limit Rudy Gobert’s offensive impact.

The outcome: Gobert had his usual stellar game on defense and the glass, but he was quiet all night when it came to scoring the ball. Without his two All-Star guards to feed him the rock and pull attention away from him, Utah’s star center had limited offensive opportunities.

He shot 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from the free throw line to finish with 10 points, which isn’t going to open anyone’s eyes. He’s Utah’s best player, so the Warriors will be plenty happy with that outcome. They never really felt his presence.

Grading the key: 9 out of 10.

Windex

The key: Keep up on the glass.

The outcome: Gobert had 16 boards, but Kevon Looney kept pace with 13 of his own, marking his third straight game with double-digit rebounds. As a whole, the Dubs were outrebounded 48-41, which is a fine margin given the tremendous size difference between the two teams.

Grading the key: 6.5 out of 10.

Move

The key: Play a fast-paced offense: lots of fast break buckets, lots of threes.

The outcome: The Warriors didn’t have the best shooting night from beyond the arc, as they converted on just 33.3% of their triples. But they shot them with regularity, which is very important: Golden State attempted 42 shots from beyond the arc, compared to 46 from inside it.

The Dubs also had 15 fast break points, which is a nicer number if you don’t notice how many Utah had (26).

Still, it was a fairly modern offensive attack from Golden State.

Grading the key: 7 out of 10.

They’ll be happy with that win, and you should be too.