Jazz Fall To Clippers

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Oct 23, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Jamal Crawford (11) drives to the basket against Utah Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward (20)during the preseason NBA basketball game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

The Jazz probably played their best game of the preseason tonight, but still fell a little short as they were handed a 103-99 loss by the Clippers.

Turnovers really hurt the Jazz. The Jazz lost that stat 20-12.

Derrick Favors saw just under 37 minutes tonight and he produced. Favors finished the game with 24 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 assists. Favors got going by scoring his first bucket on a monster dunk over Deandre Jordan. He also showed a couple nice spin moves that looked like a new go to move. Favors looked really good. If he can continue to develop an offensive game that can catch up with his defense….watch out!

Gordon Hayward played another solid game. Didn’t shoot the ball extremely well, at only 38%, but he ended the game with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. To round out the Jazz’s “Big 3”, Enes Kanter finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Combined, the 3 had 56 points, 29 rebounds, and 9 assists. If we can get that kind of production from those 3 on a nightly basis, good things will happen for this team.

Everyone wants to talk about Rudy Gobert. All I can say is wow. Gobert played fantastic. His amazing length effected so many shots and he ended the game with 5 blocks to go along with his 12 rebounds and 4 points. Gobert has the defensive tangibles to be a rotational player. However, his offensive game is still extremely raw, as was very apparent tonight.

The Jazz disrupted the Clippers on the defensive end tonight and it was obvious that it was effecting what the Clippers wanted to do. Especially on drives to the basket, the Jazz either blocked or altered the majority of shots in the paint. This team will be very good defensively. If they can play defense like they did tonight, it will lead to easier offensive buckets, and the Jazz will end up surprising a lot of teams this season.

After the game, the report came out first by Alex Kennedy, and was later confirmed by the Deseret News’ Jody Genessey, that the Jazz have come to terms with free agent point guard, Jamaal Tinsley.