The good news for the Clippers is that they won’t have to wait long for another shot at trying to solve the thousand-piece puzzle that is the Utah Jazz.
The even better news is that they could have some of their own pieces back on Friday to help do it: Paul George (bone edema right toe) and Nicolas Batum (concussion) have been upgraded to questionable after missing their past seven and two games, respectively.
Kawhi Leonard (left lower leg contusion) also is considered questionable, as he was before Wednesday’s game against the Jazz, in which he didn’t play. Guard Luke Kennard also missed it after being scratched shortly before tip-off with a sore right knee; on Thursday evening he shared the “questionable” distinction on the team’s injury report.
The not-so-swell news for the Clippers, especially if they’re not wholly healthy? How difficult it will be to find a combination of parts to counteract Utah’s game-altering centerpiece, Rudy Gobert.
The French 7-footer was sensational on Wednesday in Utah’s 114-96 victory, with which the Jazz ran their winning streak to nine games, captured their 20th victory in 21 tries and snapped the Clippers’ four-game winning streak.
Gobert finished with 23 points and 20 rebounds (including five of Utah’s 16 offensive boards), shot 8 for 12 from the floor and tallied 10 screen assists, purposeful impediments that led directly to 23 Jazz points.
He also was his usual disruptive self defensively, clogging the interior to stymie the Clippers’ patented drive-and-kick play. With him on the court, the Jazz had a stifling 78.6 defensive rating.
“There’s games when the box score doesn’t show the things that he does,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said of Gobert, whose bank account will reflect that he signed a five-year, $205 million contract extension in December, the largest such deal for a center in NBA history. “Tonight it did.”
And yet, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell credited Gobert for contributions beyond the overflowing stat sheet. In his postgame comments, the Jazz’s star guard praised Gobert’s tone-setting energy, which he said did for the Jazz what Patrick Beverley’s ferocious, 94-foot defense did for the Clippers in the first half (which, yes, L.A. won, 51-46).
“He was the aggressor,” Mitchell said of Gobert. “Sprinting down the floor, the stops he had, the finishing through contact, dunking the ball … that really set the tone.
It was a performance that felt “similar,” Donovan said, “to how he played against the Bucks,” when his dunks on two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo established the tenor in that victory.
Gobert’s impact served to diminish that by the Clippers’ typically capable bigs. Ivica Zubac had eight points and 10 rebounds off the bench, but the Jazz were plus-22 for the 14-plus minutes when he and Gobert were on the court.
Starting center Serge Ibaka finished with 10 points and just four rebounds, but the Clippers were even in the 14 minutes he shared the court with Gobert, who was forced to extend the area he patrolled to account for Ibaka’s 3-point shooting ability (he was 2 for 4 from deep Wednesday).
But it was hardly a one-Frenchman show Wednesday, as the Jazz started setting higher picks for Mitchell, effectively pulling back the rubber band and giving him more momentum to attack – which is how, Gobert said, the Jazz tried to do everything after halftime.
“We felt like they were playing harder than us in the first half and we can’t let that happen,” Gobert said of the Clippers in his television walk-off interview. “So we came back, came out more physical, more unselfish with the ball and we were able to score in transition and get to the line.”
That second-half energy allowed Utah – which played its sixth game without starting point guard Mike Conley, who also is questionable to play Friday – to wear down a Clippers squad that, without three starters and a key reserve, felt their early energy and edge sapped as the game wore on.
“Being depleted is always tough,” said Clippers guard Reggie Jackson, who played through shoulder soreness and scored 10 of his 15 points in the opening half. “Missing everybody who’s out, missing Paul, missing Nic, missing Kawhi for sure, certainly, missing 60 points on 50-40-90 splits, two All-Stars, that’s always tough to play without. But next man up, we have to step up and we have to continue to figure out a way to do this collectively and we have to hold them down because night in and night out they hold us down.”
Even playing with some makeshift lineups, Jackson noted that the available Clippers “feel we’re playing a nice brand of basketball.”
“The sooner we get everyone back and start figuring ourselves out and how we’re going to play, we’ll be great,” he added. “But most importantly, we just want everyone to be healthy.”
JAZZ (24-5) at CLIPPERS (21-9)
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Staples Center
TV: Fox Sports Prime Ticket, ESPN
Here’s Rudy after last nights win against the Clippers pic.twitter.com/qy4VDUiEy6
— kristen kenney (@kristenkenney) February 18, 2021
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