SALT LAKE CITY — Steve Kerr called players warming up off the court, assembled his coaching staff and closed the locker room to the media an hour before tipoff in the Delta Center.
He had news, and he had it minutes before ESPN’s Shams Charania: the Warriors were trading Andrew Wiggins and several other players in a multi-team deal to acquire Heat star Jimmy Butler.
After 15 minutes, people started to trickle out of the locker room. Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, player development coaches, staffers. Pale-faced and tight-lipped, they looked like ghosts.
Even after the Warriors composed themselves, they didn’t have enough. Golden State (25-25) started slow and finished slower, choking away an 11-point lead in the last three minutes. Despite a career-high 29 points from Brandin Podziemski and 32 from Steph Curry, the Warriors fell, 131-128, to the Jazz.
Jordan Clarkson scored 31 points and was a monster down the stretch, helping Utah to a 44-point fourth quarter that stamped a watershed night in modern Warriors history.
Because of the trade and injuries, the Warriors had just 10 available players against the Jazz, including three two-way players. Jonathan Kuminga is set to be re-evaluated for his ankle sprain next Monday. Moses Moody (back strain) was ruled out pregame. Center Trayce Jackson-Davis was a late scratch with right knee soreness.
They started the game with their heads elsewhere, understandably so. They’d just said goodbye to Wiggins, a beloved staple of the locker room and 2022 title run hero. Not to mention Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson and Lindy Waters III. Without the requisite focus, the Warriors fell behind 20-10 early in the game.
But the Warriors went on a 13-4 run to tame the Jazz and entered halftime up two points. Brandin Podziemski gave them a jolt with 17 first-half points.
Jackson Rowe made his NBA debut and Pat Spencer put Walker Kessler on a poster with a huge jam in the third quarter. With so many players packing their bags and working through logistics on relocating their families, the Warriors needed contributions from bit players even against the lowly Jazz without Lauri Markkanen.
Spencer found Quinten Post for a layup to tie the game at 87 entering the fourth quarter. At that point, Podziemski had 24 points, a season-high and one shy of his career-best mark.
Curry hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth to find a rhythm and put Golden State ahead. Buddy Hield also got hot and then found Rowe in the corner for a triple of his own.
Podziemski hit his career-high ninth and 10th foul shots as Curry returned. He’d gotten clocked in the head, taking a hard hit or fall for the third time of the night. His energy matched his scoring outburst.
Curry drained a corner 3 to give the Warriors a nine-point lead with four minutes left. Then he drove and kicked to Hield for the wing’s third 3 of the fourth.
The Warriors led by 11 with three minutes left after a pair of Draymond Green foul shots.
Related Articles
Kurtenbach: The Warriors’ deal for Jimmy Butler is exactly the right type of gamble
Warriors agree to blockbuster deal for Jimmy Butler, sending Wiggins to Miami
Kevin Durant has ‘no desire’ for reunion with Warriors: report
Ayesha Curry accused of blaming Oakland for her store’s closing
Why a second Durant era with Warriors — if it happens — would be different from the first
Curry was the only Warrior to score the rest of the way. He hit a stepback jumper along the baseline and snuck inside for a layup, but the Jazz started hitting everything from deep.
Jordan Clarkson drained a pull-up 3 from above the break, then another after Hield fell down in front of him. Isaiah Collier went coast-to-coast for a layup and Keyonte George hit a trey.
Utah went on an 18-4 run over 2:50, taking a three-point lead with 10 seconds left.
Facing another three-point deficit, with 9.2 seconds left, Green turned it over on a set out of bounds play.
What started as an emotional night ended with a fraught loss. It looked like so many other late-game fails the Warriors have endured over the past three seasons.
When Butler arrives, at least things will look different — one way or another.
