The Golden State Warriors resumed playoff action Tuesday night after a weeklong rest between rounds, and beat the nightlife-challenged Utah Jazz to win Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals 106-94 at Roaracle Area. The Warriors started the game on a 9-0 run, led for the duration of the entire contest, and all five Warriors starters scored in double digits. The Warriors have yet to lose a game in the 2017 NBA Playoffs.
Warriors' Stephen Curry attended to by trainer after coming up gimpy on this lay-up pic.twitter.com/T99RNcW2Fo
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 3, 2017
There was little suspense in this one, as Golden State spent the entire fourth quarter up by at least ten points and were up by 19 with 9:31 left in the game. Steph Curry sat out most of the fourth quarter, after suffering the marginally concerning ankle tweak seen above in the second half. Curry is not expected to miss any time in Game 2.
Steph out here making the defense dance 😱 #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/fWGgOLyK0m
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 3, 2017
There are much funner Steph Curry highlights! Most notably, the Chef can be seen above juking Utah’s Rudy Gobert out of his Under Armors shortly before halftime, signifying that the rout was already on.
"Way back when I had the red, black lumberjack with the hat to match." - @SHAQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 3, 2017
😂😂😂 #InsidetheNBA pic.twitter.com/TYkZbuzUSG
The most significant takeaway from this pleasantly not-competitive game may be some newly forming beef between Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley and Warriors power forward Draymond Green regarding Draymond’s taste in apparel. Green showed up for pre-game in the lumberjack-inspired quasi-flannel seen above, eliciting several minutes worth of insults from Barkley. “Come on, that’s a curtain,” Barkley joked.
It is precisely this kind of stupid-but-entertaining banter that makes a viewer like me choose to watch the TNT broadcast rather than the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast, even if it does mean missing the first few minutes of the game while the Eastern Conference game plays out. I may not be the only one. The Business Journal reports that NBC Sports Bay Area’s Warriors game ratings are down by ten percent compared to last year’s playoffs (when the channel was CSN Bay Area). NBA ratings in general are down 14 percent this season, according to Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal.
Game 2 is Thursday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Oakland, and will be broadcast on ESPN and NBC Sports Bay Area.
Related: Warriors Arena To Host March Madness Games (In 2022)