Nov 30, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) drives to the basket in front of Utah Jazz guard Raul Neto (25) during the first half at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
SALT LAKE CITY — Stephen Curry scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter Monday as the Golden State Warriors continued the best start in NBA history with a 106-103 win over the Utah Jazz.
The star point guard came up with multiple clutch 3-pointers and free throws late in the fourth quarter to fend off a feisty and young Jazz squad.
The Warriors improved to 19-0 and increased their road record to 9-0, one shy of a franchise record for consecutive wins away from home.
Gordon Hayward scored 24 points to lead Utah (8-8). The small forward missed a desperation half-court heave at the buzzer after Curry hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining to put the Warriors up by three.
The Jazz didn’t have any timeouts remaining, so they couldn’t advance the ball and set up a good look.
Utah had success with its big game against the Warriors’ smaller lineups. Jazz power forward Derrick Favors scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while center Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Forward Draymond Green and guard Klay Thompson each scored 20 points for the defending champions.
Favors gave the Jazz their first lead since the first quarter with a pair of free throws, putting Utah ahead 88-87 early in the fourth period.
Guard Shaun Livingston helped the Warriors regain the edge at 95-92 with five straight points, but the home team didn’t go away.
Favors again put Utah up by one after converting a three-point play.
The lead didn’t last long.
Curry hit a long jumper over Favors, and then Green pushed the Warriors ahead 101-99 with a put-back bucket after a missed Curry layup.
Favors tied it again with two free throws.
Again, Utah’s lead was short-lived.
Curry quickly put the Warriors up 104-101 with a 3-pointer.
Hood trimmed it to 104-103, but Curry’s free throws sealed the victory.
If you didn’t know better, it would have been easy to confuse Ian Clark for Curry in the first half. The Warriors reserve guard, who played with Utah the past two years, had a team-high 12 points on four 3-pointers as the visitors took a 53-48 lead into halftime.
Curry only had seven points on 3-of-8 shooting before the break.
This game kicked off a seven-game road trip for the Warriors, with particularly tough matchups ahead in Charlotte, Toronto and Indiana.
Conversely, the Jazz remain in Utah for their longest homestand of the season, a four-game stay. Strangely, this game marked the first time this year that the Jazz played two straight games at home.
Thompson gave the Warriors their first double-digit lead at the 9:32 mark of the third quarter, hitting a floater over the outstretched arm of Gobert, who stands 7-foot-1.
NOTES: The Jazz assigned C Tibor Pleiss, a 7-foot-3 German, to their D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, on Monday. Coach Quin Snyder on what they want from the rookie: “Really just to play. That’s easy, he just has to get on the bus.” … G/F Brandon Rush started in place of injured Harrison Barnes (ankle) for the second straight game. “We need him to shoot the ball better,” Warriors coach Luke Walton said, jokingly, when asked about Rush’s performance. “No, he was great. He deserves a lot of credit, because that?s not easy when you don’t play consistently and you get thrown in there to be professional enough to stay ready.” … Jazz SF Joe Ingles was jokingly asked if he’s considered the Steph Curry of Australia: “He’s the Joe Ingles of America.”
