By Chad Mobley, utahjazz.com
Friday night’s win over the Golden State Warriors was big, but more importantly it was complete. The Jazz led almost wire-to-wire, going up by as much as 18 with zero lead changes throughout.
More than 19,000 fans were fired up from start to finish giving the Jazz a true home court advantage. Gordon Hayward turned in his best performance of the season with 26 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with six assists and three steals.
While the starters were playing great, the Jazz bench kept the momentum going by combining to score a season-high 49 bench points.
“Our guys recognize their opportunities to impact the game and aren’t going to waste those chances,” head coach Quin Snyder said.
Rudy Gobert and Trevor Booker, constantly competing for minutes, were the most effective big men for the job against the Warriors. Snyder has made it clear that with a front court stable of four, he’s looking to play whoever’s hot.
“It’s not easy when you’re in there for five minutes and someone else comes in for you,” Snyder said. “Maybe you just hit a shot or you just blocked a shot and then here comes your teammate. For them to be supportive of each other through that is really really hard. It’s a unique group of guys, those four guys, to have the strength of character to support each other.”
Gobert notched a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds, including six boards on the offensive end. The Jazz had a 20-9 advantage in second chance points on the night.
Booker brought the house down more than once on his way to a season-high 17 points. It wasn’t in typical Booker fashion with emphatic dunks. This time, it was two big threes and an emphatic block on a Marreese Speights jumper. Then of course, a Booker throw down to end the third quarter that nearly blew the roof off.
“It’s always fun when you win and to win in the manner that we did is great,” Booker said. “We had a tough game against the Clippers where we felt like we should’ve won and most teams would come out and lay an egg tonight against a good Golden State team but we took the challenge on and we won.”
It wasn’t just the big men with outstanding play off the bench though. The guards were good too. Elijah Milsap contributed nine points and Trey Burke had 17. The ball was moving quickly and efficiently with Burke on the floor who also added seven assists to the Jazz’s 21 total dimes.
“It was a team thing,” Burke said. “This is a team that you love to be a part of. We embrace every opportunity. Some nights we don’t come out with the right amount of energy but we leave it all out there on the line at the end of the game. Just coming off the bench and being ready to play. We all know that we’re gonna get the minutes we gotta go out there and produce. It’s about we not me.”