The LA Clippers (36-36) look to break their two-game skid on the road against the similarly shorthanded Utah Jazz (43-26) Friday night. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Jazz preview.
Clippers vs. Jazz Game Information
Where: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
When: 6 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: Bally Sports SoCal, AM 570 KLAC, KTMZ
Projected Starting Lineups:
LA Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Amir Coffey – Nicolas Batum – Marcus Morris Sr. – Ivica Zubac
Utah Jazz: Mike Conley – Nickeil Alexander-Walker – Juancho Hernangómez – Royce O’Neale – Rudy Gobert
Injury Report:
LA Clippers: Brandon Boston Jr. – OUT (G League – On Assignment), Paul George – OUT (Right Elbow UCL Tear), Kawhi Leonard – OUT (Right Knee; ACL – Injury Recovery), Norman Powell – OUT (Left Foot; Fractured Medial Sesamoid Bone), Jason Preston – OUT (Right Foot – Injury Recovery), Jay Scrubb – OUT (Right Foot – Injury Recovery)
Utah Jazz: Udoka Azubuike – OUT (Right Ankle Sprain), Bojan Bogdanović – OUT (Left Calf Strain), Trent Forrest – QUESTIONABLE (Right Wrist Sprain), Danuel House – OUT (Left Knee Bone Bruise), Donovan Mitchell – OUT (Right Calf Contusion), Hassan Whiteside – OUT (Non-COVID Related Illness)
Update: Trent Forrest (Wrist) has been ruled out by the Jazz, per Tony Jones.
Update No. 2: Hassan Whiteside (Non-COVID Related Illness) has been ruled out by the Jazz.
The Big Picture
Despite heading into what is a pretty brutal final 10-game stretch to close out the regular season, the Clippers are having one of their calmer Marchs in recent memory. Sitting 5 1/2 games below Minnesota to steer off any motivations of making a last-minute push, as well as 5 1/2 games over the Lakers for the eighth seed, there’s truly not been much to worry about in Clipperland about other than health. Keeping the high-usage guys’ battery levels in check and building good habits is about all LAC can continue to control at this point.
The main thing is just staying with the plan. Staying with the vision, going out and executing every single day. Good things add up.
Robert Covington during LAC’s “Meet the Player” event Wednesday
The Antagonist
Entering Vivint Arena tonight having lost five of their last seven games, as well as seven in a row in that specific building during the regular season, the Clippers actually have a friendlier shot of righting the ship here. The Jazz, albeit tied with Dallas for the 4-seed, are sitting Donovan Mitchell, who has scored at least 24 points over his last four games, including a 37-point performance with nine threes to rout Chicago on Wednesday. The ever-dangerous Bojan Bogdanović will also be absent with a lingering calf issue tonight, missing his third-straight game after averaging 22 points on 50/50/90 splits in his first six games this month. As such, aside from the other usual culprits of Utah’s core in Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson, perhaps the biggest pain in Clipper and Maverick fans’ collective side tonight could be trade-deadline acquisition Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Although he’s had a rough season for fantasy basketball managers (Source(s): Dude trust me), Alexander-Walker is coming off easily his best game as a member of the Jazz — hitting three 3s and scoring 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to ice the Bulls.
Clippers vs. Jazz Game Notes
- Now it’s Even… Kind of: With Donovan Mitchell, Utah are 5-7 this season. Without Bojan Bogdanović, the Jazz are 1-4. Without both, they are 0-2 (at Toronto and at Phoenix). Ultimately, the Jazz will still have their 11th ranked defense to rely on. But, if the Clippers are able to get off to a hot start early, who’s to say that the Jazz find their footing at all with two of their 20+ point scorers out? At least on paper, the Clippers find themselves in a rare position tonight as the team with more double-figures scorers suiting up (Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris Sr., Luke Kennard, Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac vs. Jordan Clarkson, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley).
- Containing the Ball: A bit of an underrated point heading into tonight is that the Jazz will have fewer primary ball-handlers than the unit the Clippers last fell to in December. Going 23-19 and saying goodbye to Joe Ingles since then, Utah will rely heavily on Conley, Clarkson and, potentially, Alexander-Walker for off-the-dribble juice tonight.
- Board Man Gets Paid: If these last two games have felt painful to watch thanks to the Clippers allowing second chance opportunities after playing 24 seconds of good defense, the stat sheet suggests you probably shouldn’t be surprised to see some more of that tonight. Compared to Cleveland (15th) and Toronto (11th), the Jazz are the league’s 5th best rebounding team this year. The Clippers are 19th in that regard.
Feel free to stick around and chat down below as this article’s comment section will serve as our live game thread tonight against the Utah Jazz. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!
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