On Sunday afternoon the Jazz bounced the Clippers from the playoffs with a 104-91 Game 7 first round win, and it sounds like nobody (excluding maybe Clippers fans) was more bummed about it than the Warriors who were/are set to player the victor of the winner-take-all contest.
According to a story by ESPN, the Warriors could not care less about who won for basketball reasons (they probably just figure they'll win in five against whomever) but instead their lack of enthusiasm is reportedly due to the fact that there is jack shit to do in Utah.
Asked which city had more to offer when it comes to down time, Matt Barnes answered pretty much how you'd expect. "No comparison. There's no such thing, man," Barnes said. "There's no nightlife in Utah. Obviously, as players, you want to be able to have a little bit of a nightlife, but the main focus is winning games. Me personally, I want to get out there because I want to beat the Clippers. That's my former team, and my kids are out there. But as far as nightlife, there's no comparison to nightlife in Utah and L.A."
Barnes, who said he thinks the Warriors were pulling for Los Angeles, then added that you pass the time in Utah by "sit[ting] in your room." He also said he thinks there's an Olive Garden and Benihana there.
In case you thought it was just Matt Barnes, Andre Iguodala also voiced similar comments about the disparity between Salt Lake City and SoCal's club scenes, saying that the Utah hub can kind of lull you to sleep.
"The problem with Utah is that you're just sitting there and your mind is, like, dead, because in L.A., you still got energy for the game," Iguodala said. "Because you're in L.A., you're like, 'Man, this is just the vibe in L.A.' but in Utah, it can kind of lull you to sleep. And then you've slept too long or I'm bored out of my mind and now you got to try to pump yourself up for the game. You know you're in the playoffs and you're supposed to be pumped anyway, but the vibe is just like, 'Man, let's just get out of here.'"
Unlike Barnes' slight at Salt Lake restaurants, Iguodala did compliment Park City and the city's bars.
A third player to chip in his two cents was Kevin Durant, who undoubtedly has some expertise on smaller markets seeing as how he spent, like, close to a decade in Oklahoma City. KD understandably had less harsh things to say about the town where they'll spend Games 3 and 4. "I'm sure it's probably clubs, but I've never been to one in Utah" he relayed to ESPN. "It's a few restaurants close to the hotel, but you're not scattered out. L.A. is just bigger. That's the only difference. But preparation wise, my approach is the same as in any other city."
Finally, Draymond Green succinctly stated, "It's the playoff. Nobody worried about nightlife during the playoffs."
Iguodala also mentioned that L.A. might have contained some distractions that would've jeopardized the team's chance to make the Finals for a third straight year. "The challenges in L.A. are obvious," he said. "Before you know it, it's 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and you didn't even realize it was that late because there's so much to do. You can do whatever. It doesn't even have to be anything that exerts energy as far as body movement, but mentally you can exert energy because you're interacting with different people. You're out, and then that could lead to trouble."
Damn. Sort of makes you feel bad for Jazz players.
