LOS ANGELES — This was the kind of game the Clippers needed, a stress-free 48 minutes when they didn’t have Kawhi Leonard, after pulling out a tight game the previous night against the defending NBA champions.
Their 131-102 victory against the Utah Jazz on Friday night provided the Clippers with a chance to catch their breath before pushing into the final five games of the regular season, a tough stretch that includes another game Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers followed by a home/away back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns next week, and two more home games to wrap up.
“I thought we just took care of business, we didn’t play around,” All-Star Paul George said. “We came out and just had force from the beginning of the game.”
The Clippers came into this one at Crypto.com Arena having defeated the Denver Nuggets on Thursday despite a triple-double from reigning MVP Nikola Jokic in the first game of a back-to-back set. They showed the kind of defensive mindset Coach Tyronn Lue had been preaching for weeks.
The Clippers didn’t need to flex the same muscle against a young, short-handed Jazz team that started three rookies and second-year player Ömer Yurtseven. They led by 20 after eight minutes and 75-42 by halftime, giving Lue a chance to feature different lineups.
He played nine players in the first half, a low-risk move against a team that has been eliminated from postseason play. But that didn’t mean the Clippers took it easy on the Jazz; all nine players scored, and they led by as many as 38.
“Those are the toughest (games) to stay locked in on,” George said. “There was a group of (Utah) players who were out, but we just did a great job staying focused.”
Ivica Zubac said the Clippers took this game seriously despite the mismatch. The Jazz were missing four key players and came into the game having lost 10 consecutive games.
“We knew it was the second night of a back-to-back. They got a lot of guys missing (but) they’re going to have guys playing hard because of that,” Zubac said. “But from the jump, we set the tone physically. Defensively, they had a hard time scoring in that first quarter and I just liked the way we played. That third quarter was a little whatever. We relaxed a little bit, but we took care of business.”
The Jazz, who have lost 14 of their last 15 games, trimmed the lead to 22 in the third before the Clippers closed out the quarter with a high-flying dunk by Russell Westbrook and a 3-pointer by Norman Powell for a 104-79 lead.
Lue said he thought his players got a little lax after building a commanding halftime lead and wanted them to bear down defensively in the first six minutes of the third.
“I thought they (Jazz) did a good job,” Lue said. “Will Hardy (Utah coach) did a good job of adjusting, putting the five on smalls and switching the pick-and-rolls and triple-switching the big on to (Ivica) Zubac when he rolled. Just changing the game, that’s what good coaches do.”
James Harden took advantage of the inexperienced Jazz to post his third triple-double of the season (the most by a Clippers player since Lamar Odom had four in 2000-01) and the 77th of his career, putting him within one of Wilt Chamberlain on the NBA’s all-time list.
Harden finished with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes.
Terance Mann led the Clippers with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting, while Paul George had 14 points, Powell scored 18 points and Westbrook contributed 17 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Zubac finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds as eight Clippers scored in double figures. It was the Clippers’ first game with eight players in double figures since May 16, 2021, at Oklahoma City.
“I mean we got to win. We got to win and so whatever it takes to win the game and so we’re not looking at minute restrictions or resting guys,” Lue said. “We got to get to what we’re trying to get to, and the finish line is near, but we’re not finished yet. And so, whatever we got to do to win, that’s what we got to do.”
Leonard sat out his third straight game with a sore right knee.
The Jazz were without Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler. Talen Horton-Tucker scored a team-high 17 points, while Collin Sexton, Darius Bazley and Yurtseven each had 12 points for the Jazz, who have lost 12 consecutive road games.
With their fifth victory in their past six games, the fourth-place Clippers (49-28) increased their lead to two games over the fifth-place Dallas Mavericks (47-30) in the Western Conference standings.
The Clippers dominated from the opening tip. They had leads of 17-2, 26-7 and 36-11 on their way to a 41-16 lead after a first quarter in which they shot 74% from the field.
That sapped much of the energy out of the crowd in the first half until a fan made a half-court shot to win a trip to Mexico during a timeout in the second quarter. After the crowd settled back into their seats, the Clippers resumed dismantling the Jazz.
“I think our defense has picked up,” Lue said. “It’s been a lot of better, a lot better paying attention to detail, bringing the physicality, rebounding the ball well. But our defense has been holding us up and so I know offensively we are going to be a good team and we can make shots.
“We haven’t shot the ball as well as we wanted to, but defensively is what’s carried us over these last six or seven games.”
Zu sounds off on the W!
🎙️ @Kristina_Pink@LAClippers | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/RBv6xgYP2p— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 6, 2024
Postgame thoughts from Coach Lue 🎙️@LAClippers | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/e7TfmeMhAf
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 6, 2024
Harden dime ↗️ Russ slam https://t.co/FpiOYGEh2A pic.twitter.com/8HaAaWiwTx
— NBA (@NBA) April 6, 2024
Half-court shot ✅
🎙️ @Kristina_Pink@LAClippers | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/eSE0VN7iM3— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 6, 2024
