D-Will power — Utah point guard leads Game 1 win with 31 points, 8 assists

Another key rebound sealed the deal for Utah, as Harpring — who wound up with the ball only after touches by both Williams and Boozer on a Jackson miss — was fouled by Jason Richardson.

Harpring hit the resulting freebies to give the Jazz their final four-point cushion, one they might not have had if Golden State was permitted to close like it opened.

"We don't want to get into a track meet," Sloan had said earlier Monday. "If we do, we'll lose."

The Jazz did not lose only because they played their way in the second half, holding the Warriors to just 23 third-quarter points.

Yet the track meet is precisely what the Jazz allowed to happen in Monday's opening half, and as a result they trailed going into the break for the first time this postseason.

Utah actually set the sprinter's pace early, jumping to a 10-point lead after Okur hit the first of his two first-half 3-pointers to make it 17-7 with just more than five minutes elapsed.

Kirilenko was a shot-blocking machine in that first quarter, rejecting four Golden State shots in the first stanza alone to help send Utah into the second up 37-35. The Warriors had the Jazz huffing and puffing over the next 12 minutes, however, and used a 31-26 second quarter for a three-point advantage, 66-63, at halftime.

For some perspective, the 63 are 10 points more than the most the Jazz had at halftime in any of their seven first-round games against Houston — and Golden State's 66 are just one fewer than the Rockets scored in all of their Game 3 loss to Utah.

Not surprisingly, two-time All-Star Davis had 17 points in the first two quarters. The shocker, though, was that Golden State big man Al Harrington contributed 14 points off the bench.

Harrington, who some thought might start, giving Golden State a better matchup against Utah's big men, logged 14 minutes in the opening half.

But rather than open with Harrington or guard Monta Ellis — both frequent Warriors starters during the regular season — coach Don Nelson started with Davis, swingman Jackson at shooting guard, Richardson as expected at small forward, journeyman Matt Barnes at power forward and Andris Biedrins at center.

Early matchups, though, were drastically different on opposite ends of the floor, as only the backup pairings were the same: Davis and Williams guarded each other, and did Richardson and usual backup Giricek, who started in Fisher's spot.

When the Jazz were on offense, though, Biedrins guarded Kirilenko, Jackson was on power forward Boozer, and Barnes had Okur, Kirilenko took Jackson, Boozer took Barnes, and Okur had Biedrins when the Warriors were on offense.

For all those names, though, one was missing — and it did not go without notice. It was that of Fisher, whose status for Game 2 is uncertain — leaving the Jazz with perhaps yet another roadblock.

"He's a huge part of our team," Harpring said, "Obviously we miss him. We hope he comes back soon, because we need him."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com