Warriors let golden opportunity slip through their fingers

The Golden State Warriors had a golden opportunity to steal Game 1 of their best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals playoff series with the Utah Jazz late Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

In fact, if Stephen Jackson's 3-point attempt with eight seconds remaining would have fallen, the Warriors would have had a one-point lead and may have held on for the win. Instead, the Jazz escaped with a 116-112 victory.

"We had a great opportunity to win," said Warriors forward Al Harrington. "A couple of shots here. A couple of shots there. We could have easily won this game, so there was a lot of positives we can take from it."

Golden State has reason to feel good about its performance — and its chances in the series.

"We played our hearts out, played as well as we could play," said Warriors coach Don Nelson.

Unlike Houston, which never led at the half in any of the seven games against the Jazz in the first round, the Warriors were up 66-63 at the break. They outscored Utah in the third quarter as well, entering the final period up five, 89-84.

Warriors guard Baron Davis, still suffering from the effects of a hamstring injury aggravated in Game 6 of their series with the Dallas Mavericks, took over the second quarter when the Warriors took the lead. He had 17 points one 5-for-5 shooting in the second period alone. Davis finished with a team-high 24 points and seven assists.

Perhaps the best news for the Warriors was the play Harrington, who was a non-factor in Golden State downing the Mavericks in the first round. Harrington started all 78 games he played for the Indiana Pacers and the Warriors during the regular season, but he was benched after the first two games against the Mavs in the playoffs after sub-par performances. After averaging 16.5 points per game in the regular season, Harrington scored just 4.5 points per game versus the Jazz.

Harrington still came off the bench on Monday night, but when he hit the floor he got it rolling early. He hit a 3-point jumper on his first trip down the court and scored 14 points in the first quarter alone to keep the game close. He finished the game with 21 points.

"(Harrington) rose up to the occasion," Nelson said. "He played well on the offensive end. He could have gotten more rebounds and probably been a better defensive presence. But on the offensive end he was aggressive and I liked his play and that's one of the reasons he played 26 minutes."

For the game the Warriors shot a respectable 45.6 percent from the field and 38.7 from 3-point range. The most glaring problem for Golden State was rebounding: The Jazz owned the boards, 54-36.

In the end, Jackson summed up his team's feelings best: "We just gotta come out and play better next game."

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E-mail: lojo@desnews.com