Falling below .500 for the first time since Feb. 17, the LA Clippers (36-37) dropped their third straight, 121-92 to the Utah Jazz (44-26) Friday night. Robert Covington put out the best effort for LAC in the blowout, clocking in a team-high 18 points (6-14 FG, 4-10 3PT, 2-2 FT), six rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 30 minutes off the bench. Rudy Gobert was unstoppable for the Jazz with 19 points (8-11 FG, 3-3 FT), 16 rebounds (8 OR, 8 DR) and two blocks in 26 minutes. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Jazz game recap.
Summary
The NBA’s No. 1 rated offense didn’t miss a beat to start as Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Juancho Hernangómez seemingly slotted right into the Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanović roles for Utah. The Jazz shot 50% from the field all while taking an eight-point lead less than two minutes in, and expanding it to as much as 13. Leading the charge for much of Utah’s 18 points in the paint, was third-string big man Eric Paschall, who broke out for eight points in less than three minutes off of layups. Meanwhile, the Clippers simply could not get their looks to fall, rimming out on decent hook shots and jumpers that resulted in a lot of empty one-and-dones. After one, Utah held a 30-20 lead.
The Clippers got absolutely punked by the Jazz in one of, if not the worst quarter I’ve seen from them this season. Losing the frame 41 to 14, the Clippers nearly made as many field goals (11) as the Jazz made from deep (9). As LAC continued to look stiff offensively, Utah made it look way too easy possession after possession. With everybody on the Jazz getting involved, Rudy Gobert (11 points and five offensive rebounds) and Jordan Clarkson (11 points, five rebounds and three assists) led the way to blow the door right open. Perhaps the most surprising moment of it all was Tyronn Lue saying enough is enough at the 2:35 mark, pulling out Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris Sr. and Ivica Zubac in disgust down 60-34. At the half, the Jazz went back to the locker room up 71-34.
The Clippers rolled out a Terance Mann-Amir Coffey-Rodney Hood-Semi Ojeleye-Zubac lineup to begin what was an entire half of garbage time. In a sleepwalk of a third, the two teams drew at 24 apiece, although the Jazz did lead by 41 one at one point. With Brandon Boston Jr. spending time with Agua Caliente, Hood and Ojeleye got all the minutes and looks they could handle. While the energy was good, the efficiency wasn’t. Heading to the final frame, Utah led 95-58.
In the fourth, we saw plenty of Isaiah Hartenstein backdoor connections to cutting Clippers for layups, as well as Brian Sieman and The Czar talk about spaghetti sauce as the night came to a close.
Clippers vs. Jazz Game Notes
- Jazz Didn’t Miss a Beat: Coming into this one, it seemed the cards could potentially be in the Clippers’ favor as Utah would have to learn how to play shorthanded on short notice. It couldn’t have been further from the case. Pregame, head coach Quin Snyder mentioned that he wanted the Jazz approaching the game offensively the same way, aggressively attacking the paint and running pick and rolls. His guys did just that. Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jordan Clarkson and Jared Butler deserve a lot of credit tonight with the way they ran the offense. Meanwhile, the Clippers’ perimeter players did not meet the goal Tyronn Lue talked about before the game — taking on the challenge of defending 1v1 so that the bigs don’t have to get pulled away to help as often. The icing for the cake for Utah’s offense tonight: Juancho Hernangómez and Eric Paschall combined for 20 points.
- A Dangerous Game: The team shot 19 of 64 (29.7%) from the field and 7 of 26 (26.9%) from deep, falling to 1-13 on the season when shooting under 40%. Personally, I did think the Clippers missed a lot of looks that usually drop for them, both inside and out. With the play-in games coming up, however, tonight was a pretty concerning reminder that without the reliability and physicality of the top-end talent, this group is not above simply going out shooting cold on any night.
- Buckle Up: Looking at the Lakers’ and Pelicans’ records and remaining schedules, it’s still pretty much a done deal that LAC finish eighth. However, you’d hate to finish the schedule off so relaxed that you enter the postseason without any momentum whatsoever. The Clippers have nine games left: at Denver, vs. Philadelphia, vs. Utah, at Chicago, at Milwaukee, vs. New Orleans and vs. Phoenix before taking on Sacramento and Oklahoma City to close. This was an awful way to begin this stretch, and it will be interesting to see how the Clippers respond in the coming days.
Up Next: The Clippers will several days off before their regular-season series finale against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena on Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. PT.
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