With the series tied 2-2, the Utah Jazz travel back to Staples Center to face the LA Clippers.
The Jazz were able to even the series with LA Clippers. Rudy Gobert returned from a hyper-extended knee suffered in the opening possession of game one! However, Gobert was not 100%; he only logged 23 minutes of play. Another star, Gordon Hayward, played only 9 minutes with food poisoning.
Clippers point guard Chris Paul flirted with a triple double, earning 27 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds Sunday. This was not enough as the Clips collapsed to Joe Johnson in the fourth quarter. The longer the series prevails, the more work load CP3 and DeAndre Jordan will carry.
On the other hand, veteran Jamal Crawford is on fire now, draining 5 3-pointers. Crawford was also limited to less minutes due to foul trouble. Crawford at times can trade baskets with “Iso” Joe, keeping momentum in the fourth. ESPN, confirms coach Doc Rivers agrees that Jamal’s foul trouble was vital.
"” I thought the turning point for us was Jamal’s fifth foul and they were small, and we had to take him out. And we didn’t have another guard. I thought they hurt us in that stretch because Jamal had it going.”"
Utah took advantage of the paint as LA Clippers were outscored 58-36 inside. This was mainly because of Utah’s top defender, Rudy Gobert, being back in action and patrolling the paint; Blake Griffin also scores most of his points in the paint, so there has to be somewhat of a drop off.
The two wins Utah captured were led by Johnson who scored 21 points and the game winner in game one. Additionally, he led all scorers in game four with 28 points and a fourth quarter surge to victory.
Fortunately, the Clippers will get reserve Austin Rivers back, a bit sooner than anticipated. LA needs him badly to fill in valuable minutes Griffin was producing. The urgency will certainly be there tonight as the winner of game five in a best of seven series goes on to win the series 82% of the time!