Warriors dismal in overtime, fall to Jazz 99-92

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Jazz 99, Warriors 92 (OT)Player of the game: Utahs Derrick Favors had 23 points and 16 rebounds for Utah, which raised its overall record to 22-22 and home record to 17-6.
Key stretch: The Jazz started overtime on a 6-0 run, getting two buckets from Favors and a jumper from Gordon Hayward. That was too big a deficit to overcome for the Warriors.
Missed opportunities: The Warriors had a shot to win the game late, but couldnt come through with the game on the line. Golden State had the ball with 27.8 seconds remaining and the game timed.Nate Robinson milked the clock and then went to the bucket, but his push shot in the lane got blocked, which gave Utah one last shot at it.But Devin Harris missed a long jumper that could have won it for the Jazz.Jeffersons debut: As far as first games go, it wasnt one to remember for newly acquired Richard Jefferson. It started OK, but when downhill after that.Jefferson missed 12 of his 14 shots against the Jazz, and making matters worse, he missed his last 12. But Warriors coach Mark Jackson used Jefferson a lotplaying him 38 minutes.Jefferson was able to chip in a little bit in other areas, finishing with six rebounds and two assists.Turnover bug: The Warriors did an excellent job of taking care of the ball in the first half, committing just three turnovers. Not coincidentally, the Warriors took a 51-46 into intermission.Then came the third quarter, and it went a little haywire for Golden State. The Warriors committed seven turnovers in the first nine minutes of the period, and, again, not coincidentally, the Jazz took a 69-65 lead into the fourth quarter.Injuries, absences abound: Both the Warriors and Jazz were missing a slew of players for Saturday nights game. The Warriors were without starting point guard Stephen Curry (sprained right ankle) and center Andrew Bogut (broken left ankle).The Jazz were missing starting center Al Jefferson, whose grandmother passed away, Raja Bell (strained left adductor) and Earl Watson (sprained left ankle).Ford waived: Newly acquired point guard T.J. Ford was waived by the Warriors on Saturday. Ford was part of the trade that sent Richard Jefferson and the Spurs first-round pick to the Warriors for Stephen Jackson.Ford had announced earlier this season that he would be retiring because of neck and spine injuries. The Spurs put Ford into the trade as a way of shedding his contract, which was worth approximately 1 million.The Spurs will likely be a luxury tax team. So waiving Ford saves them a pro-rated portion of his salary now and will save them another 1 million at the end of the season when the tax kicks in.NBA teams must pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty if they are over the luxury tax.

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