Right from the opening tip of Tuesday’s home season finale, the Utah Jazz played with energy and intensity. It wasn’t just a five-minute stretch either, as Utah kept it going throughout the game and blitzed the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night, 119-79.

What led to the boys of Salt Lake destroying the defending champs? Defense, duh.

The Defense

The defense was dominant. Sure, the Jazz have the luxury of being anchored by Rudy Gobert, the soon-to-be Defensive Player of the Year (author bias), but everyone on the floor in Tuesday’s game was all over the place defensively. Deflecting balls, diving on the floor, picking off passes – it was all of that, and it was all astonishing.

Especially in the first half.

Golden State scored 16 points in the first stanza (Mitchell almost matched their output with 12 by himself, by the way), and then 17 in the second. Together, the 33 points on 32 percent shooting were their season lows in those categories. The Jazz led 62-33 at intermission.

The absence of two-time MVP Steph Curry certainly impacted the game, but they still had three other All-Stars on the court. Draymond Green looked disengaged and a step too slow, finishing with four points. Four. Kevin Durant was a minus-35 from the floor. Sharpshooter Klay Thompson had a 2-for-13 first half, finished 8-of-26 on the game and a minus-40 as Mitchell and Joe Ingles harassed him on every possession.

Proper Perspective to Appreciate Said Defense

To put the dominant defensive performance in proper perspective, consider the following:

Assists per game: Golden State averages 29.5/game while Utah passes out 22.5/game. Tuesday night Golden State had 13 while Utah had 25. You read that right, 13. Like an annoying teenager. Like, under half their average. 13.
We know the Jazz are mean on D. They allow 100.1/game. GSW gives up 107.3. Remember that score listed above: Jazz scored 12 more than Golden State gives up while holding Golden State 21 points fewer than the Jazz normally allow.