OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Jason Richardson and the Golden State Warriors got off to a quick start, then held on to defeat the Utah Jazz.
Richardson scored nine of his 21 points in a big opening period as the Warriors defeated the Jazz, 95-89, for their third straight home win.
"Utah is a good, young team. We could not take them lightly," Richardson said. "Even without (Matt) Harpring, they are a good team. They came out and played hard."
Mike Dunleavy Jr. added 20 points and Nick Van Exel had 16 and nine assists for Golden State (3-2). Brian Cardinal was productive off the bench, posting career highs with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Golden State also got 10 points and 11 rebounds from Erick Dampier, who posted his fifth double-double of the season.
Dunleavy followed Richardson's lead in the first quarter, scoring eight points to help Golden State build a 34-13 lead.
"We got it going early," Dunleavy said. "We were hitting our shots and playing great defense."
A free throw by Dampier at 8:22 of the third period gave the Warriors their biggest lead, 63-37. Utah responded with a 25-11 run to end the quarter and cut the deficit to 74-62.
"It's hard to play in this league with a lead," Warriors coach Eric Musselman said. "They are not going to go away, they are scrappy and they are going to keep coming after you."
Andrei Kirilenko netted 12 of his 21 points in the third quarter for Utah (3-2), which was denied a third straight win.
Raja Bell replaced Matt Harpring in the starting lineup and added 20 points, while DeShawn Stevenson had 17 and Carlos Arroyo 13 and 10 assists.
Harpring missed the game to attend a family funeral.
"They did a good job of really getting up into us and trying to take us out of our offense," Bell said. "We let them do that, we didn't push back and we dug too deep of a hole."
Golden State never trailed, taking the lead 40 seconds into the contest on a thunderous dunk by Dampier.
The Warriors had a 15-8 cushion with 5:45 left in the first quarter before closing the period with a 19-5 spurt. The 34 points were a season high for Golden State, which shot 67 percent (14-of-21) in the quarter and limited Utah to 35 percent (6-of-17).
"We didn't give ourselves much of a chance in the first half," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "They just annihilated us, and then in the second half they had a dropoff and let us back in the game."
Utah got off to a slow start in its only other road game, a 127-102 loss at Dallas on November 1. This time, the Jazz recovered and made things close behind solid rebounding and increased offensive aggression.
Utah made 20-of-21 free throws, with Kirilenko hitting all 11 of his attempts to run his streak to 27.
"We started executing and getting to the free-throw line, being the aggressors," Bell said. "But like I said, when you dig yourself a hole that deep it takes a lot of energy to get back."
The Warriors' poor free-throw shooting and turnovers nearly cost them the game. They were 31-of-42 at the line, making just 7-of-12 in the final minute.
Van Exel committed just two turnovers, but his teammates were not as efficient. Clifford Robinson committed six of Golden State's 20 turnovers and finished with nine points.
Utah had 16 turnovers, just 10 after the opening period.
The Warriors shot 43 percent (29-of-67) while Utah hit at 38 percent (33-of-86). Utah also won the battle on the boards, 43-41, but could not capitalize.
"Anytime we looked like we had something going in the second half, they outhustled us coming down the stretch," Sloan said.
