Utah Jazz at Golden State Warriors: Keys to the Game

Key Match-up – Dante Exum and Steph Curry

Dante Exum, along with each of Utah’s backup point guards to be quite honest, has had quite the Jekyll and Hyde season. At times he’s looked aggressive and has been able to get to the rim with ease and punished teams for leaving him open by hitting wide open threes while also serving as an effective defender.

However, at other times he’s looked out of control, been highly prone to turnovers and costly fouls and has been a non-factor on both ends of the court. Unfortunately, in Saturday’s loss to the Blazers, the latter version of Dante was in action.

At least Exum has been able to stay healthy this season (knock on wood), so that’s been an enormous plus. However, the Jazz will need him to be more than a fifth body on the floor tomorrow. Given that he’ll be matched up against the awe-inspiring Steph Curry, he’ll need to be on point, especially defensively.

Despite sitting out Saturday’s contest against the Pelicans, Curry has been phenomenal of late. In the first 13 games of Golden State’s current 14-game winning streak, Curry averaged 27.4 points on 51.8 percent shooting from the field and a scorching 48.8 percent from deep while also contributing 8.5 assists per game.

It’s been an incredible stretch that has had the Warriors looking amazing despite Kevin Durant’s absence. Therefore, Dante Exum is sure to have his work cut out for him as he’s matched up against one of the most prolific scorers in the league. For the Jazz to have any hope of success tomorrow night, though, he’ll have to figure out a way to slow Curry down.

Exum had been playing relatively well in the four games prior to the loss to the Blazers on Saturday, so hopefully he can get back in that kind of groove again tomorrow, not only to improve Utah’s chances of defeating the Warriors, but also to help him regain some much needed confidence heading into the postseason.