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

Key Stat – Field Goal Percentage

I know, field goal percentage is quite the no-brainer stat to have pinned here. And in all honesty, I don’t typically like to have it be my key stat. Nevertheless, given the way the Jazz have shot against the Clippers this season, needing to simply improve in this area is nothing but the cold, hard truth.

The Jazz have actually played exceptional defense against the Clippers in both losses. Holding a team that averages a staunch 107.8 points per game, the seventh best in the league, to under 90 is an impressive feat and Utah did it on both occasions.

And looking up and down the stat sheets from both contests, in one game or the other, Utah found a way to either top or match the Clippers in just about every significant statistical category except for in field goal percentage.

LA out-shot the Jazz by a meager 1.3 percent in the first meeting, but then went on to top them by 12.2 percent the second time around. Given that Utah has been stingy on defense and respectable in nearly every other category against the Clips, as simple as it may sound the Jazz just have to find a way to take better shots and knock them down at a higher rate if they hope to win.

Defensively their game plan has worked nearly to perfection, but it’s clear that offensively the Clippers have had the Jazz locked up. If Utah hopes to reverse their fate against the Clippers in tomorrow’s contest, it will be vital that they maintain that strong defense, but tweak their offense in such a way that will allow them to put up a much more efficient field goal percentage than what they posted in the first two outings.