LA Clippers vs. Utah Jazz: Three things to watch for

The LA Clippers head to Utah to face Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz tonight. Facing yet another potential playoff team, here are three things to watch for.

The LA Clippers bounced back against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, but must now travel to Utah in the first game of their first back-to-back this season. The 3-1 Jazz come into the game as a five point favorite and deservedly so. The Clippers will have their work cut out for them.

Here are three things to watch for in tonight’s matchup.

1. Immovable object versus an unstoppable force

Four games may not be any sort of true sample size, but we are able to glean some information from the time on the court. The most notable thing we have seen so far? The Clippers offense is really, really good.

I’m talking 119.7 points per possession good in non-garbage time minutes. That mark is six points higher than the second team in the league. The high scoring is understandable given that they are effectively shooting 59.6% from the field and are third in free throw rate, attempting 27.9 per 100 possessions. That is the unstoppable force.

The immovable object? Utah’s defense. They are allowing just 93.7 points per possession in non-garbage time minutes, which is first in the league. They are allowing the fourth-lowest effective field goal percentage in the league (46.2%) and are generating turnovers on 16.7% of their opponent’s possessions. With Rudy Gobert anchoring their defense, it makes complete sense. What happens when these two units face each other? We’ll find out.

2. Does our defense hold?

On the flip side, our “highly-touted” defense has been pretty awful. They are allowing the 26th most points per possession in non-garbage time minutes. No, Paul George has not touched the court and the team understandably is going through some growing pains as they learn to play together, but it just hasn’t looked right.

The Jazz aren’t an offensive juggernaut. For everything great their defense does, their offense has not been too great. Their offense ranks just 25th in points per possession through these first four games, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that rank doesn’t start to rise.

For starters, Mike Conley has been horrid. He has only put up 7.8 points per game and his effective field goal percentage is 23.3%. Bleh. It doesn’t seem likely that he fell off a cliff in his 13th season, especially given his playstyle. Using the law of averages, one has to figure he will bounce back at some point or another. Hopefully, it’s not tonight.

Bogdan Bogdanovic is another problem. In the three games he has played in, he’s putting up 23.7 points per game on an insane 53.3% shooting. The one game he missed, the Jazz fell to the Lakers by just nine points. Stopping him is key. Yes, Donovan Mitchell will get the spotlight, but the Yugoslavian forward can easily be a deciding factor.

Speaking of Mitchell, he leads the team in scoring, just edging out Bogdanovic with 24.0 points per game. In his third year, Mitchell is already a bonafide superstar. The defense will have to be focused on stopping him.

One last note here. I fully expect Joe Ingles to drop like 25 points tonight. That dude just hates us.

3. How will the team be without Kawhi?

The best development of this early season has been Kawhi Leonard‘s performance. A once perceived shortcoming in an otherwise near-flawless game, Leonard is dishing out a career and team-high 7.5 assists per game. That, coupled with his 27.0 points per game is a big reason the team has been so successful.

But with Leonard out tonight, what does this team do? We’ll essentially be running with last year’s squad. That’s not a bad thing. With the exception of Maurice Harkless and Patrick Patterson, the majority of players getting consistent minutes are a part of that eight seeded team last season. That group is still more than capable of pulling this one out.

Lou Williams will obviously have to be in attack mode, as will his partner in crime Montrezl Harrell. Both Landry Shamet and Ivica Zubac are coming off of their best games of the season on Monday versus Charlotte. Similar performances out of them could help push this team to a surprising victory.

Don’t forget that tonight’s game will have a slightly earlier tip-off at 7pm PST/10pm EST. Make sure to follow along with us on Twitter and to check back here tomorrow for takeaways!