Los Angeles Clippers 105 - Utah Jazz 104
The Good
Clippers: Blake Griffin shredded every piece of evidence that is Paul Millsap's defense. He got inside at will. His post game has looked a lot better this season, and the footwork was there. Even his jumpers went in that night. Besides his solo effort, the bench came up big, combining for 44 points. I thought Eric Bledsoe should have been given more minutes, he score 10 points in 11 minutes and was playing crazy defense.
Jazz: Utah is a team that is full of upside, they have a good group of veteran players and mix of talented young guys. They execute well in the half court and are patient enough to get a good shot off before time expires. Gordon Hayward need some love, this kid is a perfect fit in this Utah team that boasts height. At 6 foot 8, he plays the shooting guard position to his advantage. He can easily shoot over most guards, and use his length to bother his opponent on defense.
Jazz was hitting everything in the beginning, threes were falling and they held a 10 point lead all the way to the third quarter, where things returned to normal. Al Jefferson should have been used more down the stretch. He was having it easy in the low block in the first half, but he didn't get it back there in the second. That is probably in part to DeAndre Jordan's ball denial, his length deterred the Jazz guards from passing it to Big Al.
The Bad
This game turned into a basket trading contest after halftime, there was absolutely no defense on either end. Both teams got their way inside, 50 points for Jazz and 56 for the Clips.
Clippers: They allowed interior passes. I am talking about Jazz players passing to each other within 8 feet of the rim and the Clippers did nothing about it. In the other end, there were way too many isos early in the first half, taking multiple tough shots that allowed Utah to go on fast breaks.
I would like to see Chris Paul be more ball dominant. Run the plays through him, so he can create different opportunities for this team. He should not be standing around watching Jamal Crawford shoot his ill-advised shots, when he can easily get something closer to the hoop. If he had exploited the pick and roll more, the slow-footed Jazz big men would have been in trouble. Just that game deciding possession where he came off the screen, and took Al Jefferson on the switch for the easy layup served as the only necessary example to prove my point.
Oh, and the Chauncey Billups flop completely ruined this game for everyone (except Clippers fans).
Jazz: The defense crumbled in the second half, there was zero effort to contest shots and they were just scrambling to get a stop. An injury-free Derrick Favors would have been a huge help on defense. He might actually be quick enough to bother Chris Paul and help out on Blake Griffin. Things didn't get better on offense either, they were just throwing the ball away (17 turnovers compared to their opponent's 10) to fuel the LA comeback.
