2/13 Utah vs. Los Angeles Clippers
7:00 pm MT – Root Sports/League Pass
Opponent record: 33-21
Season series: Clippers lead 1-0
It seems like forever ago that the Utah Jazz took on the Los Angeles Clippers in a game that saw the Jazz sans Hayward fall 88-75 in the third game of the season. It was their second lowest scoring output of the season so far and one of their uglier performances.
In fact, if you’re looking for a memorable Jazz win over the Clippers in recent years, you’d be hard pressed to find one. The Jazz are just 2-16 against the Clippers over the course of the last six seasons (counting 2016-17).
Of course one of those was last year’s infamous late season loss which saw the Jazz fall in overtime to the Clippers reserves, essentially shattering Utah’s playoff hopes right then and there, so playing LA has clearly been far from kind to the Jazz of late.
Yet the Clippers have slipped quite significantly due to the fact that Blake Griffin was out for an extended period of time due to injury and Chris Paul continues to recover from surgery to a torn ligament in his thumb and will be sidelined for a couple of weeks still. Paul has played historically well against the Jazz, so his absence should help Utah have a bit more of an advantage.
Chris Paul (thumb) underwent successful surgery, will miss 6-to-8 weeks https://t.co/i3WP4dA6Mj pic.twitter.com/wK6DPs8K0u
— SportsEthos (@SportsEthos) January 18, 2017
Nevertheless, Utah showed once again last night their inability to raise their game to another level against a good team when they fell to the Celtics. While the Clippers are just 4-6 in their last ten games, some of those losses have come to the likes of the Warriors (twice), Celtics and Raptors, which of course are teams Utah has failed to beat this year as well.
The fact that LA is still very much in the hunt for fourth place also goes to show that they are undoubtedly a solid team even with the injuries. And unfortunately, given Utah’s recent struggles combined with how poorly they’ve matched up with this Clippers squad for over half a decade, I have a hard time seeing them coming out and dispatching them tomorrow.
Therefore, it’s with great sadness that I’m predicting a Clippers win which will allow them to regain possession of fourth place in the West. The Jazz had some great chances to secure the spot but failed to take advantage in a big way. They could redeem themselves with a win over the Clippers tomorrow, but again I unfortunately don’t think that will be the case.
My Prediction: Clippers Win
Final Score: Los Angeles 103, Utah 97