The Los Angeles Clippers will receive a significant boost off the bench in Game 5 as Austin Rivers, who played exceptionally well against the Utah Jazz in the regular season, will be back in action.
One of the most disappointing subplots of the first-round playoff series between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers has been all the injuries. Utah’s Rudy Gobert went down in the first possession of Game 1, missing the rest of the contest as well as Games 2 and 3. In Game 3, LA lost their star power forward Blake Griffin for the remainder of the postseason after he suffered a toe injury.
In Game 4, Utah’s Gordon Hayward played just nine minute before leaving the arena due to a struggle with food poisoning that had been plaguing him throughout the day. There’s no questioning that it’s been an exhilarating series so far, but it’s also hard not to wonder how much more epic it could have been had both teams been at full strength throughout the four games they’ve played up to this point.
Aside from the injuries that have taken place during the series, the Clippers actually entered the playoffs with one of their most important bench players, Austin Rivers, out of commission with a hamstring injury. Rivers moved into an important role this season as the backup point guard behind Chris Paul and had a solid regular season prior to his injury.
Fortunately for LA, it was announced yesterday that he will indeed be back in action for tonight’s Game 5.
I spoke w Austin Rivers, he told me hamstring has made significant progress and he will play in Game 5 vs Utah. @NBAonTNT @TurnerSportsPR
— Rebecca Haarlow (@RebeccaHaarlow) April 24, 2017
Rivers’ stat line of 12 points on 44.2 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from deep along with 2.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists isn’t exactly mind-blowing, but he is an underrated defender, a quick and solid finisher and brings a lot of edge to this Clippers team.
And perhaps most notably, as I mentioned in my preview of this playoff series, Rivers’ stats against the Jazz took an incredible jump during the regular season. Against Utah he averaged 15 points on 56.8 percent field goal shooting (25-of-44) and 50 percent shooting from behind the arc (7-of-14) with a plus/minus of +11.3.
To say that the Jazz struggled to contain Rivers during the regular season would be a vast understatement as he essentially had his way with the Jazz whenever he was on the court. Considering that Utah has already struggled in this series against the likes of reserves Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford, that fact doesn’t bode well for the Jazz.
Rivers mainly hurt the Jazz in the regular season by attacking Utah’s bench unit and finding ways to get into and finish in the paint. Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder relied much more heavily on his better defensive backup point guards – Dante Exum and Raul Neto – in Utah’s Game 4 victory, and he may very well need to do so again if he hopes to slow Rivers in Game 5.
It was reported that Rivers will be on a minutes restriction for Game 5 as he works his way back from the injured hamstring, so that will likely help the Jazz to keep him in check as well.
Doc Rivers says Austin Rivers to play tomorrow with minutes restrictions
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) April 24, 2017
However, the fact of the matter is that LA’s reserves have done major damage to the Jazz. While Chris Paul was largely responsible for the Clippers’ victories in Games 2 and 3, the effective play of many of his role player teammates has been a key factor giving the Clips the edge as well.
So while stopping Austin Rivers, who played so well against the Jazz in the regular season, will be a key focus for Utah, in truth they need to find a way to stop several of LA’s reserves if they hope to come away victorious.
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For Los Angeles, Rivers’ return could not have come at a better time given that both teams will be aiming to push themselves to the brink of a series victory as they look to break the 2-2 tie in tonight’s Game 5 bout at 8:30 pm MT.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com