The Clippers finally broke their (regular season) losing streak in the state of Utah, beating the Jazz, 117-103. Kawhi is the headline, but check out the details below.

Summary

The Clippers went into halftime with a 13 point lead, behind 22 first half points from Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi started the game 5/5 and was efficient throughout the night. Ivica Zubac added 10 of his own, as the Clippers found him repeatedly in the paint. The Jazz were led by Talen Horton-Tucker’s 11 in the half, but the Clippers’ defense held them to just 46 points on 37% shooting from the field (22% from three).

Throughout the second half, the Clippers “played with their food,” as Dr. Shap would say. That is, they expanded their lead but also let the Jazz go on long enough runs to stay in the game. With about seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Collin Sexton hit a shot to cut the Clippers’ once 18 lead to just six. Ultimately, though, the Clippers responded well, led by—who else?—Kawhi Leonard. After a 12-0 run, the game was back in control—and over.

Game Medals

Gold Medal: In 38 minutes, Kawhi put up a season-high 41 points, along with five rebounds and five assists. He was 14/23 from the field and 6/8 from three. So far, this season, Paul George has looked like the player who is more capable of putting up high point totals on a nightly basis (averaging 23.5 points to Kawhi’s 21.6). But, tonight, Kawhi showed that he still has the assassin quality that we have seen the playoffs (although, to be fair, the Jazz were pretty short-handed).

Silver Medal: In 42 minutes, Zubac had 18 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks. That 42 minutes, by the way, was a new career high, per Tomer Azarly. To learn more about Zubac’s value to the team, check out this article by Justin Russo.

Bronze Medal: In 37 minutes, Paul George had a relatively quiet 20 points and added six steals. Mann hitting two threes (out of five) almost topped George in my book; those shots are hopefully a sign that Mann will soon be out of his slump. But given that the Clippers’ defense held the Jazz to just 103 points, the edge goes to George’s six steals.

Clippers, Kawhi mute the Jazz, 117-103
Kenneth Armstrong

The Clippers are finally at .500 (10-10); tonight, they hope to get back into the “green” against the Utah Jazz on the road.

Game Information

Where: Vivint Smart Home Area, Salt Lake City, UT

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch/ Listen: ESPN, Watch ESPN, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Jazz: Keyonte George – Ochai Agbaji – Simone Fontecchio – John Collins – Ömer Yurtseven

Clippers: James Harden – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Terance Mann – Ivica Zubac

Injuries

Jazz: Kelly Olynyk, Questionable (Shoulder); Jordon Clarkson, Questionable (thigh); Lauri Markkanen, Out (Hamstring)

Clippers: Mason Plumlee, Out (Knee); Brandon Boston, Jr., Out (G League Assignment)

The Big Picture

The Jazz are 3-7 in their last 10 games, while the Clippers are climbing, winning seven of their last ten. What’s more, Markkanen has already been ruled out, and Olynyk and Clarkson are currently questionable. Therefore, the length that gave the Clippers so many issues early this season—when the Clippers lost in Utah, 120-118—will be significantly paired back. This difference, as well as the Clippers’ more solid rotation in recent games, is why the Clippers are currently favored by 6.5 points.

The Antagonist

Six of the Jazz’ seven wins have come at home and the Clippers have never won in Utah during the Ty Lue era (0-6). Moreover, this year, in general, the Clippers have been poor on the road (3-7). If the Jazz get one or both of their “questionable” players off the injury report, the Clippers have shown themselves willing and able to lose in Utah, even when they have the superior lineup.

Notes

Schedule Talk: Now that the Clippers are finally back to .500, it is time for them to hold themselves to an even higher standard. That is, the Clippers have beaten some relatively tough teams over the last few weeks (Nuggets, Warriors, Kings, Mavericks); now, the Clippers need to start expecting to win those games because they have done it already. When the Clippers play the Kings and Warriors next week, the mindset should be that the Clippers are the favorites. If the Clippers cannot make that jump, they are going to have trouble in the new year (they started 2024 with the Heat, Suns, Pelicans, Lakers, Suns and (again)).

Watch This Space: The Clippers rank second in steals per game (9.1), while the Jazz lead the league in turnovers (17.8 per game). We might see a track meet in Salt Lake if these trends hold on Friday night.

Clippers vs. Jazz Game Preview
Kenneth Armstrong

The 2023 edition of the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League kicked off on Friday, but the Clippers and Jazz both have to wait until the nightcap of day 2 to get in on the action. After a couple of full days of anticipation, we’ll get to watch the Summer Clippers tip off against the Jazz at 7pm Pacific on ESPN2, or in the Thomas & Mack Center for basketball tourists in Las Vegas.

We’ll look for Jason Preston, Jordan Miller, Kobe Brown, and Moussa Diabate to take on leading roles for the Summer Clippers. Miller, Brown, and Diabate will all be on the Clippers next season, while Preston’s status is up in the air–his contract has a guarantee date after Summer League. Diabate and Preston, in their 2nd and 3rd Summer Leagues, should look more comfortable than in past iterations and be the leaders of this squad. The Clippers will also look to veteran Xavier Moon for a steady hand bringing the ball up, and try to get a look at Xavier Castaneda, an undrafted rookie guard that the team signed to an exhibit 10 deal (a training camp invitation with the team option to convert into a two-way contract).

Some other names that I’ll be keeping an eye on are Keaton Wallace (a tenured member of the Ontario Clippers who was briefly on a two-way deal last season), Matt Morgan (a finalist for the LNB MVP in France last year), Brodric Thomas (who has 44 NBA games under his belt for the Rockets, Cavs, and Celtics since going undrafted in 2020), and Bryson Williams (an undersized stretch 4/5 with Ontario Clippers experience shot 42% from three at Texas Tech in 2021-22 and in France last season). I’m interested to see who the 5th starter is alongside (presumably) Preston, Miller, Brown, and Diabate. Moon, who started next to Preston in the backcourt for Ontario last season, is a logical fit, but the Clippers seem to be prioritizing getting a look at several new established veterans from non-NBA leagues, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Morgan or Thomas get the nod.

Don’t be surprised if the Summer Jazz look like the much more coherent side in this contest. While the Summer Clippers are playing their first game together, the Jazz played three times earlier this week in Salt Lake City, going 1-2. Headlined by sophomore lottery pick Ochai Agbaji, who played real rotation minutes for the Jazz last season and is averaging 19 points and 9 rebounds so far this summer, the Jazz also feature rookie top-10 pick Taylor Hendricks, who hasn’t played yet with a hamstring strain. Other notable Jazz are beat up: 2019 Spurs first round pick Luka Samanic, who was briefly with the Jazz last season, left their last game with a knee injury; rookie 28th overall pick Brice Sensebaugh is day-to-day recovering from knee surgery, and returning two-way contract guard Johnny Juzang missed their last game. While all of their statuses for Saturday evening are unknown, we can expect Agbaji to be flanked by 16th overall pick Keyonte George, who has scored 16 points per game so far this summer.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

2023 NBA Summer League: Clippers vs Jazz Preview and Open Thread
Lucas Hann

The LA Clippers dropped another game on Wednesday night despite a great game from Norman Powell. He was out-dueled by Lauri Markkanen, who put up 34 points for the Jazz to defeat the Clippers.

Before we get to the summary, a few follow ups to our preview:

— The Clippers’ starting line up was: Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, Sr., and Ivica Zubac.

— Brandon Boston, Jr., Moussa Diabate, and Jason Preston were made available and played, while Moses Brown was not active.

Summary

According to the broadcast, the Clippers got into Salt Lake City in the middle of the night—and they started the game like they were still asleep. Within a few minutes, the Clippers found themselves down nine. They would end the first quarter down 10 after falling as far back as 13. The Jazz were led by Lauri Markkanen, who had 10 in the first frame against a hapless Clippers defense, and Jordan Clarkson, who added eight. Norman Powell led the Clippers with 12 but the 38% team field goal percentage could not not keep up with the Jazz’ 52%.

Utah’s hot shooting continued in the second quarter. They went into halftime shooting 54% from the field and a red-hot 64.7% from three. Markkanen had five threes by himself and Mike Conley—who looked good, but we’ll get into that more below—had three by halftime. But, despite leading by as much as 18 in the second quarter, Powell was able to keep the Clippers in it with eight more points to bring his first half total to 20. Zubac, who was aggressive in the paint, had 11 at the half on 5/10 shooting (he finished the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes).

Unfortunately, Lauri Markkanen continued his reign of terror against the Clippers, with eight third-quarter points including a monster poster on Zubac. This allowed the Jazz to mostly keep the Clippers at an arms-length all quarter; in fact, they extended their lead slightly towards the end of the quarter to 14. Powell continued his awesome night with another 10 points in the quarter, but the Clippers could not string together stops to put a dent in the deficit.

The Jazz started the fourth quarter on a big run, which put the Clippers in purgatory. The game was not over, over—but the Clippers could never recover enough to make it a game. Ty Lue elected not to bring back the starters in the fourth quarter, presumably focused on beating the Spurs in San Antonio on Friday.

Notes

Norm Powell Goes Nuclear: In our preview, we noted that Norm tends to have a high variance in his production. Well, tonight, he was just about as good as we have seen him in a Clippers uniform. He had 30 points on 60% from the field (and 78% from three). Unfortunately, he did not have a sidekick tonight, so he only played three quarters. Hopefully this can lead to more consistent high-level play going forward.

The G-Leaguers: As mentioned above, Boston, Preston, and Diabate joined the Clippers in Utah. Boston had seven points on 3/9 shooting (0/2 from three). He had a few nice moments, but he was mostly uninspiring (especially with the three turnovers). Moussa likewise had a moment or two (e.g., the three blocks), though he was 1/4 from the field and the free throw line. Preston did not play until garbage time. It goes without saying that none of them looked like a secret weapon who could save this Clippers team.

Mike Conley Audition?: Conley—an infamous Clippers Killer—had 17 points on 6/8 shooting, including five threes (a season high). He also had 9 assists and zero turnovers. He did not look like a third star but he certainly looked like a player the Clippers could use tonight. (Remember, though, this was essentially his best game of the season. He is only averaging 10.2 points and 7.5 assists on 38/35/79 shooting this season.)

Around-the-NBA: The Clippers have fallen to 23-24. They did get some help, with the Mavericks losing, but the Thunder and others in the West put up wins. See more below:

• Mavericks lost to the Hawks (good)
• Thunder beat the Pacers (bad)
• Pelicans lost to the Heat (good but the Clippers likely cannot catch them anyways)
• Grizzlies beat the Cavaliers (bad but, again, way out of the Clippers’ league right now)
• Note: Timberwolves vs. Nuggets and Kings vs. Lakers were still playing at time of writing.

That about does it for this recap of the Clippers’ loss against the Jazz. As always, check out The Lob The Jam The Podcast and Clips ‘N Dip for analysis throughout the week, and follow us on Twitter to watch the game with us!

Lauri Markkanen, Jazz light up Clippers, 126-103
Kenneth Armstrong

The LA Clippers will travel to Utah to take on the Jazz after losing to the 76ers on Tuesday. As usual for a second game of a back-to-back, the Clippers will be short-handed. Check out our preview of the Clippers’ contest against the Jazz below:

Game Information

Where: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

When: 6:00 PM PT

How to Watch: ClipperVision, Bally Sports SoCal

How to Listen: AM 570 KLAC

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Terance Mann – Nicolas Batum – Marcus Morris, Sr. – Ivica Zubac

Jazz: Mike Conley, Jr. – Jordan Clarkson – Malik Beasley – Jarred Vanderbilt – Walker Kessler

Injuries

Clippers: Paul George, Out (hamstring); Kawhi Leonard, Out (rest); Luke Kennard, Out (calf); John Wall, Out (abdominal); Brandon Boston Jr, Out (G-League); Moussa Diabate, Out (G-League); Jason Preston Out (G-League)

Jazz: Lauri Markkanen, Questionable (hip); Kelly Olynyk, out (ankle)

The Big Picture

After Tuesday night’s loss, Paul George said that he would not play Wednesday in Utah because the Clippers are being “smart” about his hamstring soreness (h/t Justin Russo and others). Kawhi Leonard’s availability has not been reported, but it is unlikely that he plays his first back-to-back of the season this time around. Reggie Jackson seems likely to play, but his back did tighten up towards the end of Tuesday’s game, so it is possible he is limited or even out against the Jazz.

The above lineup, then, is a guess that should be taken with a grain of salt. It is possible, though, that we see Reggie start (if he is healthy) because Ty Lue wants to limit how much time Norman Powell and him play together. Regardless, the Clippers will be short-handed and will need a role player—like Terance Mann or Marcus Morris, Sr.—to take on a heavy offensive load. Like, really heavy.

Defensively, the Clippers might catch a break. Olynyk and Markkanen, who are liable to give the Clippers trouble, are currently listed as unavailable. Terance Mann, perhaps the Clippers’ best defensive guard, can spend a lot of time covering Clarkson. And the Clippers are familiar with this team, given that this is the fourth and final game of the season series between these teams. On the whole, the Jazz are not the worst team the Clippers could be playing this short-handed.

The Antagonist

While the Clippers have a path to a win, the forces working against them are significant. They will have a rest disadvantage; they have to travel; their roster will shrink by at least one starter—probably two; and the Jazz are one of the highest scoring teams in the league, while the Clippers are one of the lowest.

Moreover, the Clippers play again on Friday, so Ty Lue may quit on this game early if the Clippers find themselves in an early hole. Friday’s game against the Spurs is an absolute must-win—no matter what.

Notes

Rooting Interests: The last ten games have significantly altered the Clippers’ season in just about the most negative way possible. Currently, the Clippers are stuck in the middle of the huge glut of mediocre Western Conference teams, between six and thirteen in the standings. Here are the other games taking place on Wednesday that affect the Clippers:

• Hawks @ Mavericks (go Hawks)
• Pacers @ Thunder (go Pacers)
• Heat @ Pelicans (go Heat, although the Pelicans are out of reach)
• Cavaliers @ Grizzlies (again, the Grizzlies are out of reach but why not—go Cavs)
• Timberwolves @ Nuggets (go Nuggets)
• Kings @ Lakers (both teams losing help, so this is a wash)

The Norman Powell Roller Coaster: From December to January, Norm’s field goal percentage is down 9% (though 3P% is stable). He’s getting fewer free throw attempts, even though his overall attempts are up. His splits over the season have been all over the place, but looking at his game-to-game stat lines is even more confusing. In a four day stretch, for example, he has had a 12% shooting game and a 64% shooting game.

Notably, in wins, Norm’s splits are 50/43/82. In losses, he is 44/34/69. When the Norm Roller Coaster is up, so too are the Clippers. When he’s on the way down, we see what we saw on Tuesday—a loss.

That about does it for this preview of the super short handed Clippers’ game against the Jazz. As always, check out The Lob The Jam The Podcast and Clips ‘N Dip for analysis throughout the week, and follow us on Twitter to watch the game with us!

Clippers vs. Jazz Game Preview
Kenneth Armstrong

Second-year wing Brandon Boston finally had his Las Vegas breakout game Friday afternoon as the Summer Clippers pulled off a huge fourth-quarter comeback to eliminate the Summer Jazz from championship contention. The Clippers had already been eliminated by virtue of their Wednesday night loss to the Denver Nuggets, but are now back at 2-2 after today’s win. They’ll play their final Las Vegas Summer League game tomorrow, Saturday night at 8pm Pacific Time on NBATV.

The Clippers trailed 56-50 heading into the fourt quarter against the Jazz before winning the final frame 32-9, just absolutely dominating Utah. Boston had 13 points in the final frame to lead the way, outscoring the entire Jazz team by himself. Second round rookie big man Moussa Diabate missed his second straight game with an ankle injury and is not expected to play tomorrow either, while second round sophomore point guard Jason Preston is also done for Summer League after entering health and safety protocols today. Here are some individual notes from today’s game:

• Brandon Boston was the star of the show today, finishing with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals on an efficient 8-14 from the field, a very welcome improvement to his sub-30% field goal efficiency in the three preceeding games. It’s worth noting that his struggles early in the week felt like growing pains in real time, as he was expanding his game and trying out new skills. That paid off in gratifying fashion today, as he scored effectively at all three levels and made smart reads with the ball in his hands. If I had to bet, I would bet that Boston sits tomorrow on the second night of a back-to-back and last game of a 4-in-5 stretch after playing 32:33 today, but it would be fun to see him again.
• Xavier Moon had a really nice showing stepping into the starting point guard role for Preston, finishing with 9 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 30 minutes of his own. This was the best complete game that a Clipper point guard has put together this week, which is probably not something to overreact to since Preston is a 22-year-old sophomore who missed his entire rookie year and Moon is a 27-year-old vet who has won multiple MVP awards in lower professional tiers. The prognosis for Moon with the Clippers long-term hasn’t changed, but I still like him. It wouldn’t shock me to see him also sit tomorrow, though he might want another audition in front of scouts from around the world since he doesn’t have a guaranteed contract for next year.
• You have to take the good with the bad as far as Jay Scrubb is concerned. The third-year leftie guard had his first acceptable efficiency game of the week as he scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting, and he showed some scrappiness on defense, getting some deflections while mismatched against bigger players as the Clippers went small in the second half. But the decision-making offensively is just so, so far below this level that it’s hard to look past. There have been a lot of plays in every game this week where Scrubb has forced a drive into traffic instead of making a much simpler, unselfish pass for an easy shot for a teammate, but there were two in particular today that were truly astonishing–plays you would expect any backup high school guard to make. Once, he took on a bigger opponent at the rim and missed badly instead of making an easy pass through a wide-open lane to an egregiously wide-open Justin Bean (who shot 46.5% from three last year in the corner). Later, while pushing the tempo on a 2-on-1 fast break, he chose again to challenge a defender instead of making a simple dump off for an easy dunk… and missed. Scrubb is a talented basketball player but he’s the type of guy you hate to have as a teammate, and I can’t see a future for him unless he drastically changes his approach to the game. Like Moon, Scrubb could rest on Saturday after playing heavy minutes up to this point, but even more than Moon (who has had a long and accomplished professional career), the opportunity to get another game’s worth of tapes for scouts might be too good to pass up.

• Reggie Perry got another start in place of Diabate, but underwhelmed. I feel a bit for Reggie, as he was stuck in a gimmick battle against 7’6″ backup Summer Jazz center Tacko Fall, who is a pretty bad basketball player but simply so big that he makes things very weird when he’s on the floor. But honestly, aside from one really nice move leading to a dunk in the first half (his only made field goal) Perry lacked good moments tonight with or without Fall on the floor opposite him, and despite being the Clippers’ only center he wound up playing just 14 minutes… with the team losing those minutes by 10 in a game they won by 17.
• Jarrell Brantley continued to do a very solid job in the PF position for the Clippers, and spent much of the game matched up with Utah centers. His numbers haven’t jumped off the page this week, but he plays with a poise fitting for a guy with several years of pro experience (in the NBA, G-League, and Europe) and seems to mostly just be a very sound player on both ends of the floor. He’s undersized for a PF at 6’5″, but his strength and defensive headiness make him a good fit as an undersized defensive forward in today’s game. The real question is the shot, which hasn’t been at an acceptable level throughout his professional career and didn’t look like a threat tonight. At 26, he’s not an upside play, but I’d have him in camp competing for a two-way spot regardless, I think he has depth utility as a small ball defensive 4 in the Clippers’ system.
• Cameron Reynolds is also intriguing and had maybe his best game of Summer League. He didn’t shoot the ball that well in this one (2-7 from three), but we have a career-long sample size that says he’s a capable shooter. What I liked in this one was his all-around game and how he performed defensively as part of an undersized unit, picking up 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. That’s a pretty nice line. For me, even though he’s taller than Brantley, he’s more of a 2/3 than a 3/4, and I trust Brantley’s strength to translate to effective NBA defense a bit more than Reynolds’ lengh. He’s 27 years old himself, so there’s no upside angle here, but he certainly seems like he has the right skillset as a 2/3 for a team to take a gamble on.
• As far as the Exhibit 10 guys are concerned, Michael DeVoe got a few minutes as the backup point guard and really struggled. He did make a couple of shots, which helped redeem a shift where he was loose with the ball. He’s not a natural point guard, so it’s hard to hold it against him, but I’m not seeing the NBA player here. Likewise, Justin Bean got a couple good shifts in this game in the smallball look and just didn’t stand out. He did his job and was on the floor as the Clippers went on their huge run, but the 10th man who doesn’t do much but doesn’t tank you either isn’t exactly the Summer League archetype who finds his way to NBA success. Lastly, Lucas Williamson got another DNP. At this point, I don’t think any of them will be on the team after Summer League wraps up.

The Clippers have just one game left in Vegas, and it’s shaping up to be one of very little consequence for the franchise, as two of their three major prospects are out and the third seems likely to be given the game off as well. We’ll see several guys’ last-ditch attempts to make their case to be on the 20-man training camp roster, but for the most part it’s shaping up to be an audition game for members of the Summer Clippers to try and take their services elsewhere around the world next season.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Summer League Recap: Boston stars as Clippers eliminate Jazz, 82-65
Lucas Hann

The Summer Clippers are back in action today for their fourth game of the Las Vegas Summer League, this time against the Utah Jazz at 2pm on ESPN2. The Clippers, with two losses, have been eliminated from contention for the Summer League Championship and will play their final game in Las Vegas tomorrow against the Miami Heat at 8pm, causing them to end Summer League with a 4-in-5 after playing just 1 game in the first 5 days.

Rookie center Moussa Diabate, who was perhaps the most encouraging Clipper through their first two games, didn’t play on Wednesday and is expected to miss today’s game as well. It’s unclear if there’s any chance of him returning tomorrow, as well as if the Clippers will opt to spare other priority players like Jason Preson and Brandon Boston from playing the finale of the 4-in-5.

Update: The Clippers have now ruled Preston out for this game due to health and safety protocols. One would assume that will keep him off the court tomorrow as well, so we’ll see Summer League coach Shaun Fein dip deeper into his bench as we wrap up the week.

This afternoon, the Jazz have a chance to put themselves into Summer League title contention, but it will be a tall task amongst a stacked field. Five teams have already locked in 3-1 records, with another 7 sitting at 2-1 and hoping to break into a massive tie for first place with wins today. The top two 3-1 teams based on point differential will go to the title game, with the cutoff currently being Portland’s +8.3 points per game but with a serious chance of moving further up if some of the 2-1 teams with impressive point differentials score blowout wins today. Utah’s differential is just +0.3, meaning it would take a 32-point win over the Clippers today to put them in the conversation.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs Jazz Summer League Game Thread
Lucas Hann

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.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs. Jazz Recap: Game Over in the Second
Ralston Dacanay

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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Clippers vs. Jazz Preview: Into the Spidaless-Verse
Ralston Dacanay

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, several teams have expressed interest in newly-acquired Clippers forward Robert Covington since the trade Friday night that brought Covington to Los Angeles along with Norman Powell. For those who don’t know Scotto, he is an extablished NBA reporter on these types of minor rumors and has a strong reputation of accuracy.

Scotto adds that “the Clippers are open to retaining Covington,” so it’s far from a sure thing that he will be dealt again this week. While he is in the final year of his current contract, the Clippers would have his bird rights to work on a new deal this off-season. At power forward, the Clippers currently have the established duo of Marcus Morris and Nico Batum, leaving some questions about where Covington fits into the equation. Each of these guys can play in SF/PF combinations with another, but the Clippers’ long-term outlook includes Kawhi Leonard returning to the team next season (or late this season) and occupying most of the small forward minutes, while younger incumbent wings like Terance Mann and Amir Coffey also have likely earned playing time at the position. Covington can also provide cover as a small ball option at the center position, though the Clippers are dealing with a center logjam now as well. Even though many around the team, including myself, consider Serge Ibaka likely to be moved this week, the team has significant investment in defensive anchor Ivica Zubac and needs to continue to find minutes for Isaiah Hartenstein, who has the best on/off numbers on the team this season.

So, it does feel like something’s gotta give here for the Clippers. Even if you take Ibaka away from the team and don’t add another player to the rotation, they’ve got two established centers getting regular time and three quality veteran power forwards in their prime. Then, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, and Amir Coffey are competing for limited minutes as the backup wings behind Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, once those stars return from their injuries. New acquisition Norman Powell’s best position is also shooting guard, also he’ll likely play plenty of minutes as a shadow point guard with George handling playmaking duties. At point guard, he’ll compete for minutes with the Clippers’ current leader, Reggie Jackson.

Scotto suggests that the Clippers could hold on to Covington as defensive depth and another veteran in the locker room, and that’s definitely on the table. We know that Ty Lue loves to tinker within playoff series, with support players regularly coming in and out of the rotation as needed during last year’s Western Conference Finals run, and Covington provides the luxury to make those types of adjustments. Want to play heavy centerless minutes? Covington would be a huge asset with Hartenstein out of the rotation. Need a full deck of wing defenders with no defensive liabilities? Covington could replace Luke Kennard for a game. And if someone like Terance Mann is struggling, Covington might fill the same role with a bit more consistency and poise.

In the short term, there’s a role for Covington on the Clippers, even if it’s a small one compared to the 30 minutes per game he was playing this season for Portland, where he started 40 of 48 games. In the long term, a regular role for him would likely only come at the expense of Marcus Morris or Nico Batum. It’s a luxury for the Clippers in several senses: Covington is a great luxury depth player for the next 28 games + playoffs, or he could be turned into a positive return for the Clippers in another trade before this deadline. His presence also makes it easier to explore potential deals for Morris or Batum at this deadline, as he would fit pretty naturally into the PF role for the Clippers (he’s not nearly the shooter Morris and Batum are, but he’ll camp in the corners and do just enough, while being a much better defender than Morris), and his bird rights would likewise give the team options this summer, with Morris under contract and Batum holding a low player option. Assuming Batum opts out, Covington could be insurance if Nico gets a big offer elsewhere. The Clippers could also decide to explore trade avenues for Morris and re-sign both.

For now, let’s peek at what some offers could be from the teams calling the Clippers about Covington this week. It’s probably safe to say that the market for Covington isn’t insanely robust–Portland’s surely been taking calls on him in the lead-up to this trade with the Clippers, and if they thought they could get a first-round pick for him you’d imagine that they would have been able to still avoid the luxury tax by trading Covington separately later instead of throwing him into the Powell deal. There was some chatter that Portland’s value in this trade was getting a first round pick (Keon Johnson) for Powell and a second round pick (Detroit’s 2025) for Covington. If that’s an accurate reading of Covington’s value around the league right now, then the Clippers probably won’t look to trade him. His value as rental depth plus an off-season insurance policy is worth more than a future 2nd. But that being apparent, plus the fact that multiple teams are interested, seems to suggest you might be able to get a little bit more. Maybe 2 2nds? Maybe a useful player coming back as salary matching?

The teams with interest in Covington are obviously going to be good teams with hopes of making a playoff run who would be “buyers.” But Covington being just 31 makes his bird rights a little more attractive than your standard deadline rental–he could easily re-sign with a team and be a rotation piece for several years to come. That makes for easily over a dozen teams that would be interested in adding a player like RoCo to their playoff rotation. The limiting factor here is going to be financial. Teams will need a way to absorb his $12.9M deal, either a large enough trade exception or expendable matching salary. So, who could both use Covington and has a potential trade offer that wouldn’t cost them one of their own core players?

There are only two teams in the NBA with big enough trade exceptions to absorb Covington outright: Orlando and New Orleans. The Magic clearly have no incentive to get into the conversation here, but the Pelicans might–they’re looking like strong contenders for a Western Conference play-in spot with hopes of being playoff-competitive sooner rather than later with a healthy Zion Williamson, meaning that re-signing Covington could work out for them long-term. In addition to that large exception, the Pelicans have the $10M expiring contract of Tomas Satoransky, who Robert Flom mentioned yesterday as a potential stopgap backup point guard for the Clippers. With New Orleans in mind, here are some potential Covington offers from them and other teams:

• New Orleans Pelicans: 2 2nd Rounders, with or without Satoransky. Sato has been dreadful this year and doesn’t warrant compensation. The Pelicans will have bigger fish to fry before looking at a RoCo deal, and Satoransky’s large expiring contract could well be gone as part of a package for a more significant piece than Covington. The Pelicans also have a bucket of future firsts from Milwaukee and the Lakers from the Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis trades, so it’s possible you could get something like “the worst of NOP/MIL/LAL 2024 1sts.”
• Chicago Bulls: Derrick Jones Jr and Marko Simonovic. Simonovic is just filler here to get the math over the finish line. Frankly, I’m not sure that the Bulls would prefer Covington over Jones Jr., but Chicago is in a tight race for the 1-seed in the East and DJJ, also on an expiring deal, could miss most of the remainder of the regular season with a fractured index finger.

• Phoenix Suns: JaVale McGee, Dario Saric, and 2 2nds. McGee has become redundant with the arrival and emergence of Bismack Biyombo, and Saric is out for the season. Covington would give the Suns another switchable defensive forward to join forces with Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, and Cam Johnson–a position where contenders need a lot of interchangeable parts. But with the Clippers getting no short-term utility from McGee and Saric, who is owed $9.2M next season, the two 2nd round picks aren’t enough to sway me and I highly doubt Phoenix coughs up a first.
• Utah Jazz: Joe Ingles and 2 2nds. Ingles is out for the year after tearing his ACL, so the Clippers would simply release his $13M expiring deal to create a new roster spot. It’s just as well, since it’s safe to say the player who injured Kawhi Leonard with a dirty play last postseason wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms in LAC’s locker room. But the Jazz are desperate for defensive help and Covington would give them an interesting addition on that end of the floor, so he could be one of their targets with that expiring deal.

On the whole, if I were the Clippers, I would be holding out for a future first for Covington. Even if it’s a low-value pick (either because it belongs to a good team, or because it’s protected, or both), it gives LAC another relevant asset for a potential future trade package as they try to add high-end talent alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. However, I think they are unlikely to get a first rounder for RoCo at this deadline, which I’m fine with–holding onto him is a pretty good worst-case scenario. I am hesitant to trade Marcus Morris because of his importance to this team, but he’s probably the guy at PF at this deadline who you take a long, hard look to see if you can get a really good return this week while leaving Batum and Covington as your power forwards moving forward.

NBA Trade Rumors: Robert Covington Attracting Interest
Lucas Hann