Clock near midnight?
OAKLAND, Calif. — For three quarters the Utah Jazz kept pounding the ball into Carlos Boozer for easy baskets, but still trailed the Golden State Warriors with their shoot-from-anywhere approach.
The difference in Game 4 — and possibly the series — came when Derek Fisher provided his big man with some help down the stretch and the Warriors’ 3-pointers stopped falling.
Fisher scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, Boozer dominated the middle with 34 points and 12 rebounds and the Jazz became the first road team to win at Golden State in nearly seven weeks with a 115-101 victory Sunday night that sent Utah home with a 3-1 series lead.
After his emotional, midgame return from his daughter’s cancer operation fueled Utah’s Game 2 comeback, Fisher delivered with his on-court performance this time. He made a pair of 3-pointers to help the Jazz pull away in the fourth quarter and move within one win of the Western Conference finals.
“I really haven’t had much rhythm to my game,” said Fisher, who missed all of Game 1 to be with his daughter. “I’ve been trying to get my legs back. I haven’t practiced lately so it felt good to be able to step up for my teammates. This is an environment a lot of guys hadn’t been in before and I’m glad I was able to use my experience to help us tonight.”
Fisher was a key contributor for the Los Angeles Lakers when they won three straight NBA titles earlier this decade. The Jazz have never won it all and haven’t been this close since John Stockton and Karl Malone took them to back-to-back NBA finals in 1997-98 against the Chicago Bulls.
Utah can return to the Western Conference finals for the first time since that heyday by winning Game 5 at home.
“We closed out the last series at Houston, so we know what it’s like,” Boozer said. “They’re not going to make it easy for us to close them out, and we’re aware of that.”
The only reason Fisher was in position to hit those big fourth-quarter is because of the way Boozer dominated the first three quarters. With his 6-foot-9, 266-pound frame, Boozer is just too strong for the undersized Warriors.
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