Only for Guild Members » We need to put things into perspective

Utah has a chance to write one more chapter to an improbable comeback story.

The Jazz put themselves in position to claim the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference after cruising to a 119-79 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. Utah did not waste time taking control of the game and led by double digits over the final 3 1/2 quarters.

Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points and set an NBA rookie record for 3-pointers. Mitchell went 4 of 5 behind the arc and has made 186 3-pointers this season Cheap Jamal Adams Jersey , breaking Damian Lillard’s record for a first-year player.

”I am actually thrilled for him that he did that,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. ”He has been our guy, offensively, all year who we have relied on. He’s unselfish, which makes the guys around him better.”

Derrick Favors added 16 points and nine rebounds. Jonas Jerebko scored 14 points, and Rudy Gobert and Ricky Rubio added 13 points apiece for the Jazz.

Utah (48-33) won its sixth straight game and went 3-1 in the season series with Golden State. Now the Jazz are tied with Portland in the standings and can claim the No. 3 seed with a win over the Blazers on Wednesday night.

”What makes it a story is no one expected it,” Mitchell said. ”But the thing I’ve said all year is we knew we were going to be good. I don’t think we knew we were going to be 3 seed good, but we knew we were going to be good.”

It is a surprising position for a Utah team that lost last season’s top scorers Gordon Hayward and George Hill to free agency over the summer and was nine games below .500 at one point in mid-January.

The Jazz believed all along they could climb back into the playoff picture and make serious noise in the Western Conference.

”Guys took it upon themselves to just get better in the offseason Jimmy Garoppolo Jersey Youth ,” Favors said. ”We just stuck with the plan throughout the whole season and right now we’re fighting for the third spot. Gotta give credit to everybody on this team.”

Even with a loss to the Blazers, Utah is assured of falling no lower than the No. 5 seed.

Klay Thompson scored 23 points and Kevin Durant added 13 for the Warriors, who finished the season at 58-24. Golden State, the No. 2 seed in the West, never led in the game and shot just 35 percent from the field.

The 40-point loss is the largest margin of defeat for the Warriors under coach Steve Kerr.

”We need the competitive spirit,” Kerr said. ”We need the juice. We need the joy, and we haven’t had much of that. So we got to get our minds right.”

Utah dominated on both ends of the court during the first quarter. The Jazz used an 18-3 run to stake out a 24-9 lead. Rubio took a steal in for a layup and Favors scored on a pair of dunks to ignite the run.

Mitchell scored on back-to-back possessions and then followed with a 3-pointer to help push the lead to 33-14. The rookie totaled 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first quarter alone.

Golden State appeared it might rally after Durant scored back-to-back baskets to cut Utah’s lead to 35-22. That’s as close as the Warriors got. Jerebko and Royce O’ Neale combined to score three straight baskets to push the lead to 43-24.

”We got to be better,” Durant said. ”We couldn’t really get a rhythm or a groove out there with the way we go down so early. We started pressing a bit and trying to get it all back at once.”

Utah led by as many as 45 points in the second half. The Jazz took their largest lead at 103-58 when Jerebko buried a pair of 3-pointers and Dante Exum added a dunk to polish off a 10-2 run to open the fourth quarter.

TIP-INS

Warriors: Thompson and Durant combined to shoot just 14 of 39 from the field. … Golden State scored a season-low 33 first-half points. … The Warriors fell by an average margin of 29.6 points in three losses to the Jazz this season.

Jazz: Utah scored 25 points off 16 turnovers. … The Jazz had a 19-6 edge on fastbreak points and outscored Golden State 62-38 in the paint.

HOODIE STATEMENT

As the Rookie of the Year debate between Mitchell and Ben Simmons continues to heat up Adidas Derick Brassard Jersey , the smack talk is following suit. Mitchell wore a black hoodie into Vivint Smart Home Arena before tipoff on Tuesday that contained the dictionary definition of a rookie on the front.

It offered a lighthearted jab at Simmons’ status as a ”redshirt rookie” after he spent what would have been his original rookie season sidelined with an injury. Adidas approached Mitchell about wearing the hoodie and he went along with the joke.

”We just wanted to all have fun with it,” Mitchell said. ”That’s all it is, having fun and just enjoying it.”

Mitchell reiterated he’s not worried about the award and would rather see Gobert and Snyder earn Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors respectively.

QUOTEABLE

”We need to put things into perspective. When I was a rookie, we only won 23 games. And now some people say winning 58 is kind of a down year. That’s incredible.” -Thompson, on Golden State finishing 58-24 in the regular season.

UP NEXT

Warriors: Will learn their first round opponent on Wednesday.

Jazz: They travel to Portland to face the Blazers on Wednesday.

鈥?Interim general manager Marty Hurney insists the Carolina Panthers handled the medical treatment of quarterback Cam Newton “the right way” during Sunday’s 31-26 playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints.The NFL and NFL Players Association announced Monday they plan to conduct a joint review to determine if the Panthers followed the correct concussion protocol after Newton took a hard shot from Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata midway through the fourth quarter. If the concussion protocol was not properly followed the team is subject to discipline, including a $150,000 fine.Newton spent time on the ground after the hit. Then, as he was walking toward the sideline Ty Montgomery Jersey , appeared to stumble to one knee. He briefly pointed toward his right eye.He sat out one play, but returned on the next offensive series and finished the game.“He took a hit. But when he walked off and he told the trainers he got poked in the eye, then they did take him into the tent and checked him for a concussion, which he did not have,” Hurney said. “And it was really getting poked in the eye.”Hurney said Newton intentionally took a knee because he was told to by the team’s training staff so Carolina could get an official timeout, thus allowing backup quarterback Derek Anderson a chance to warm up. Anderson came in for one third down play and was nearly intercepted.However, the question could become whether or not Newton should have been taken to the locker room for evaluations.The league and the players union changed its concussion protocol last month after Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage returned to the field after having a concussion that left the quarterback’s hands shaking after a hit.The changes to the protocol include the requirement of a locker room concussion evaluation for all players “demonstrating gross or sustained vertical instability (e.g., stumbling or falling to the ground when trying to stand.)”Newton did not visit the locker room.Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he is very confident that the protocol was followed correctly.“Based on what the young man (Newton) said to me Mitchell Trubisky Jersey , that is what I believe happened,” Rivera said. “And again, from that point on I don’t think anything else needs to be said about it.”Newton said after the game Sunday that “precautionary concussion protocol things” happened, but “it wasn’t my head. It was my eye. My helmet had come down low enough over my eyelid and it got pressed by the player’s stomach.”The Panthers were investigated once before in the 2016 season opener at Denver when Newton took a blow to the head but remained in the game.It was later determined the Panthers handled that situation correctly and no fines were handed out.The Seattle Seahawks were fined $100,000 in Week 10 after the league and union determined they failed to apply the concussion protocol properly after quarterback Russell Wilson took a blow to the head against the Arizona Cardinals..