Los Angeles • Remember the Jazz’s last matchup in L.A. against the Clippers, when they seemingly couldn’t collect a single defensive rebound, leading to a collapse in the fourth quarter?
Well, the Jazz remembered. This time, the Jazz locked down one of the league’s top teams late, running away with a 120-107 win in L.A.
Coming out of the gate, it looked like the Jazz hadn’t learned anything. The Jazz once again allowed the Clippers to dominate the glass, picking up 12 offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone. And while they stopped that trend later in the game, the result was a 13-point early lead that they’d nearly end up regretting. Rudy Gobert took blame.
“I think the biggest part was myself, and my physicality," he said. “I feel like I wasn’t locked-in in the first quarter, especially on defensive rebounds.” He turned things around, though, and the Jazz only allowed four offensive rebounds for the rest of the game.
Gobert wasn’t the only one who fought after the first. New addition Jordan Clarkson was excellent in his second game with the team, with two critical, game-changing stints. The first was in the second quarter, in which he led the Jazz on a 10-0 run in which he assisted or scored all of the Jazz’s points. Suddenly, that 13-point deficit was down to just two at halftime. Then, in the second half, Clarkson found success again, including a critical 3-point foul which stemmed the Clippers tide early in the fourth quarter.
JAZZ 120, CLIPPERS 107
• Jazz force the Clippers to miss their last 11 shots, go on an 11-0 run to run away with the victory.
• Jazz held Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to a combined 12-44 shooting from the field.
• Donovan Mitchell was excellent, with 30 points alongside nine assists. Jordan Clarkson led the bench with 19 points.
From there, it was all about the Jazz’s defense on one end, and Donovan Mitchell on the other. Mitchell’s 30-point, nine-assist performance was just the latest example of the jump that the Jazz’s third-year star has seemed to take — while the assists were a season high, the points felt natural, maybe even easy. The most impressive two came against one of the NBA’s great defenders: as Kawhi Leonard closed out on Mitchell in the corner, the Louisville product’s high pump fake caused Leonard to jump. Mitchell drove by, and free of the defense, threw down a signature split-legged dunk from the baseline.
Joe Ingles also continued his effective run in the Jazz’s starting lineup, making five of his eight 3-point shots, adding eight assists and six rebounds to Utah’s efforts. Bojan Bogdanovic didn’t have his best shooting night but had 17 points and two steals, including a critical three late.
As you’d expect, Jazz head coach Quin Snyder was most proud of his team’s defense. The headline was the shooting performance of both Kawhi Leonard — just 6-24 from the field, or 25% — and Paul George — just 6-20, or 30%. Royce O’Neale, Ingles, and Bogdanovic’s physical defense never really let those two explore the paint, while Gobert locked down anything that involved a screen from the Clippers’ big men.
The result? A 15-point fourth-quarter performance from the Clippers’ offense, including the game-defining 11-0 Jazz run in the final three-and-a-half minutes. In that stretch, the Clippers missed all eight of their shots. What looked like a close finish a few minutes earlier ended with the Jazz dribbling out the clock in the final few possessions.
“We never got above 40% shooting,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “When you shoot that poorly, and the other team never gets below 50 (percent shooting), you’re probably going to lose the game.”
That’s a lesson for the Jazz to remember.
JAZZ REPORT
KEY MOMENT: With the game at 109-107 with 4:00 left, the Jazz promptly locked down, going on an 11-0 run by getting stops, getting out in transition, and hitting threes.
BIG NUMBER: 27.2%: the combined shooting percentage of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Jazz return home and will face the Detroit Pistons on Monday at 7 p.m. MT.
