Warriors throw down Jazz, 125-105

Forget all the talk about Don Nelson’s matchups and the Golden State Warriors’ wacky schemes. This was about basic math: A team that takes 32 three-point shots and makes almost half is going to win the way Golden State did Friday night at home, beating the Utah Jazz, 125-105, in Game 3 of this Western Conference semifinal series.

There wasn’t much Utah could do about a team that was willing to shoot whenever, wherever and made 11 of 21 three-pointers in the first half and 15 of 32 for the game while shooting 52.6% overall.

But for all of the shots the Warriors made – and Baron Davis’ cock-back dunk over Andrei Kirilenko stood out among the 41 that went in – they have to be thinking about the go-ahead three-pointer Stephen Jackson missed in Game 1 and the three free throws they missed near the end of regulation in Game 2, which had put Golden State in a 2-0 hole at Utah in the best-of-seven series.

“We should’ve won both of those games,” Jackson said. “We felt we had those games, but we didn’t do what we needed to do down the stretch to win.”

Instead they’ll try to even things up Sunday in Game 4 at Oracle Arena.

Clearly, the Warriors play better for this crowd, which came 20,655 strong and spent the night cheering wildly and bouncing to a soundtrack that included “Baby I’m a Star,” “I Got Five on It” and “We Fly High.” Yep, they were ballin’ by the Bay.

It wasn’t just the shots dropping. The Warriors deflected more passes, were faster to loose balls. They even closed the huge rebounding disparity, losing the battle of the boards by 12 after being out-rebounded, 114-68, in the first two games.

“They did have some big performances, but there are a lot of things that we can control,” Utah’s Derek Fisher said. “We have to be accountable for protecting the basketball.”

The Jazz had 23 turnovers and took some uncharacteristically quick shots, which fed the fast pace of the game.

It didn’t help that fouls limited Deron Williams to 9 1/2 minutes in the first half, and that Carlos Boozer wasn’t up to form.

Davis led six Warriors in double-digit scoring with 32 points, as well as nine assists and six steals. But it was his dunk over Kirilenko with 2 minutes 48 seconds left that had fans – and even teammates – oohing and ahhing.

“He exclamated-pointed him,” Warriors forward Matt Barnes said. “If that’s even a word.”

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 j.a.adande@latimes.com