Utah Jazz go flat in ugly road loss to woeful Warriors

OAKLAND, Calif. — A decisive third-quarter run did in the Jazz.

But as Jerry Sloan scanned the final box from a 116-96 loss at Golden State on Sunday, one that ended Utah's three-game win streak and its string of four straight victories over the Warriors, he realized it wasn't only then that so much went so wrong.

"They beat us every quarter," he said after Utah fell to 29-23 and — combined with Phoenix's victory Sunday at Detroit — dropped out of the NBA Western Conference's eighth and final playoff position.

"They just went out and annihilated us. Every time we tried to do something, they got after us. We couldn't handle the basketball," the Jazz coach added. "Eighteen turnovers (leading to) 34 points — you play a team, I don't care who they are, and they're that quick to the basketball, and we're that slow trying to make a decision, you're not going to have a chance to win."

Sloan sensed trouble from the start, and it continued as too many Utah outside shots led to too many Golden State transition opportunities.

The 17-35 Warriors — who had seven scorers in double figures, including all five starters and a team-high 24 off the bench from Corey Maggette — beat Utah 32-18 on transition points.

"We never tried to get the ball inside, right from the beginning," Sloan said.

But it really did hurt most in the third, when the Warriors broke open a 58-58 game with a 18-2 burst that featured 11 Jamal Crawford points — including two 3-pointers and five free throws, three of which came when C.J. Miles fouled Crawford behind the long-distance line.

"He gets one of them every game, man," Miles said. "He finds a way to throw his arms out and finds a way to get you to hit him.

"I was going to run by him, and he held the ball a little bit and then kind of flared his arms. So, I hit him — but it was because he changed the way he shoots the ball. But I wouldn't have hit him if he had shot it regular."

Just as costly during the killer run was when point guard Deron Williams fouled Maggette with five-and-a-half minutes left in the quarter.

Golden State was up just 64-58 at the time.

It was only Williams' third foul, but Sloan subbed in Ronnie Price anyway.