SALT LAKE CITY — There have been a lot of frustrating, disappointing nights for the Utah Jazz and their fans the last couple of seasons.

And then, occasionally there are those glorious nights when it's great to be part of Jazz Nation ... ah, yes, just like the good ol' days.

Indeed, Friday was one of those nights.

Yep, EnergySolutions Arena was rockin'; the outcome was shockin'; and the Jazz were busy knockin' off the NBA's best team, the Golden State Warriors, in a 110-100 stunner that only the most die-hard Utah fan might've predicted.

And hey, with the Warriors winning their previous six meetings against Utah, including three in a row at ESA, that's pretty doubtful.

After all, Golden State steamed into town with the league's best record (36-7), boasting both the league's best offense and defense, and appears seemingly headed for the No. 1 seed in this year's Western Conference playoffs.

Utah, meanwhile, had lost its last two home games earlier this week and limped into Friday night's matchup at 16-30 on the season.

But unlike their meeting a couple of weeks ago, when the Jazz played 'em mighty tough for a half only to see the Warriors break free with a monstrous third-quarter showing on their way to a 17-point win, Utah didn't back away this time.

"They're a terrific team," first-year Utah coach Quin Snyder said of Golden State, which was surprisingly added to the list of this season's top-flight victims of the Jazz that also includes defending NBA champion San Antonio, Memphis, Chicago, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Miami and Phoenix. "We just wanted to try and play hard and execute.

"To be able to play defense against a team like that and really focus on it, for us, was good. We were fortunate — they missed some shots they make — and that's what you need to happen against a team like that to have a chance to win. We obviously played hard defensively, but they had some looks that didn't go. We were fortunate in that sense.

"Our defense is improving. I think there is more pride across the whole team, top to bottom, from all our guys. ... They work at it. Our guys have embraced it and I think we are starting to see some of the benefits of that work pay off," Snyder said.

Gordon Hayward had a monster all-around night for Utah with 26 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and six assists — the first player in the entire league to put up those numbers in the same game all season.

"We guarded extremely well, except for a little bit there in the fourth against maybe the best offense in the league," Hayward said of a game in which the Warriors never led. "It's a credit to Coach Q and everybody executing the game plan.

"It was an all-around effort by everybody — great game. I thought we really moved the ball for the most part. ... It was a great win."

Trevor Booker added 17 points and seven boards off the bench, which came up huge by contributing a whopping 51 points to the victory. Derrick Favors had 15 points, as did Trey Burke, along with seven assists, while Rudy Gobert chipped in with a double-double of 10 points and an equal number of rebounds.

Joe Ingles also had 10 points, while Elijah Millsap chipped in with nine more and Enes Kanter contributed 10 rebounds as the Jazz (17-30) outrebounded the Warriors by a wide 55-41 margin.

Steph Curry canned a game-high 32 points and also had seven rebounds and six assists for Golden State (36-8), which lost its second-straight game.

Leandro Barbosa scored 13 of his 15 points in the final 3 1/2 minutes in a valiant but vain attempt to bring back his team, which trailed by as many as 18 points but pulled within six in the final minute. And Klay Thompson, who scored an NBA-record 37 points in a single quarter earlier this month, added a dozen.

"We didn't have enough life to win a game on the road against a hungry, young team that's playing a lot better, and they took it to us," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.

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"That's two games in a row we've been hammered on the boards. Our defense has now let us down three games in a row. We've given up 113, 111 and 110 (points) and gotten hurt on the boards. ... We've been the best defensive team in the league this year, but we have not been the last three games, so we've got to get our edge back."

Former University of Utah star Andrew Bogut, who had a modest four-four-four night in points, rebounds and assists, admitted that his team had "no energy, no bounce coming out of the gate. ... So we deserved to lose.

"This is why the NBA is what it is. It is a beast of a season, lots of ups and downs. Lost two in a row for the first time in a while. We will bounce back; we will be OK. It's not alarm bells, but it is a wake-up call for us."

EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com

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