Warriors very foul from the foul line

Golden State had an upset road victory ready to be served to it on a golden platter in the final minute of regulation Wednesday night.

All the Warriors had to do was make a couple of free throws and Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena was theirs.

Instead, the Jazz walked out with a 127-117 overtime victory and a commanding 2-0 series lead heading to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night.

"I thought the game was ours," said Warriors coach Don Nelson. "Free throws betrayed us."

Golden State had a 112-109 lead with 16 seconds left when Warriors forward Mickael Pietrus stepped to the foul line for two tries. The 65-percent free throw shooter clanked both.

Then, with Golden State still up 112-111 with 6.2 seconds on the clock, star point guard Baron Davis was fouled. Davis calmly stepped to the line and drilled his 34th point of the game on his first attempt.

But his second shot went in-and-out.

"I thought the second one was good too," said Davis. "I shot it the same way. At the last minute I just saw the ball bouncing out."

Utah made the most of Davis' miss when Jazz point guard Deron Williams tied the score on a 12-foot running jumper, sending the game into overtime.

"It was right there," said Nelson. "All we had to do is make free throws — and we couldn't do it. I feel sorry for the guys that missed. I know how hard it is on them. It's harder on them than, certainly, it is on me."

Nelson, frankly, knows that free throw shooting — like rebounding — is one of this team's Achilles' heel.

"We're not a great free throw shooting team, but we haven't lost very many games because of it," said Nelson. "That's pretty strange. Usually that costs you games ... But in this big game (free throw misses) bit us right in the behind."

The Warriors hit 26 of 37 from the line, while Utah was 28 of 33.

The fact that the Warriors were in a position to win was amazing looking at some of the statistics. The Jazz nearly had a 2-to-1 rebounding advantage all game long — finishing with 60 boards to just 32 for the Warriors.