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Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Keys to the Game

By Jared Woodcox

Oct 30, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Clippers forward Wesley Johnson (33) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 88-75. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Clippers forward Wesley Johnson (33) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 88-75. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 7, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; The LA Clippers mascot Chuck celebrates during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; The LA Clippers mascot Chuck celebrates during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

Prediction – Clippers 103, Jazz 97

Despite the injury to Chris Paul, the game being played on Utah’s home court and Rudy Gobert’s probable statement performance, I’m still not feeling confident in a Jazz win. Part of that has to do with their poor play against good teams as well as their two most recent losses, but more than that, I simply am not confident that Utah can come through in the first two key areas that I mentioned.

Favors once again looks like a shell of his former self and one good game out of five or so simply isn’t going to get it done. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Griffin go off for a big night, especially considering that neither of Utah’s power forwards behind Favors, Trey Lyles nor Boris Diaw, will have any chance of slowing him down either.

And in terms of three-point shooting, I worry that the Clippers are simply too good while the Jazz have been quite frankly too inconsistent. Therefore, as I predicted in my week outlook piece, I’m going to pin the Clippers as six-point winners in tonight’s bout.

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I truly hope that I am wrong and that with a win, rather than lose the fourth seed the Jazz will instead take a 1.5-game lead once again. The Clippers are definitely beatable especially without Chris Paul so there’s no question that this game could go the other way if Utah is able to play more like they did early last week.

However, their trend against Western Conference playoff foes hasn’t been great and especially considering the trouble the Jazz have had in recent contests against LA, I’m feeling less than optimistic about their chances in tonight’s contest. As much as it pains me to say it, I have a hunch that, at least for now, today will be the Jazz’s last day in the four-spot.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com

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