No Matter How You Look At it, Game 5 is Pivotal for the Utah Jazz

With a chance to go up 3-2 and retake home court advantage, Game 5 should be viewed as a must-win by the Utah Jazz.

The Utah Jazz pulled off the miraculous win in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers as they were able to overcome a late deficit to topple the Clippers by a score of 105-98. By doing so, Utah avoided falling into a daunting 3-1 hole, the like of which is rarely overcome.

Even more impressive, Utah was able to get the win despite the fact that Gordon Hayward left the game early with food poisoning and only logged nine minutes. Setting aside the meager seconds that Rudy Gobert played in Game 1 and the minuscule floor time that Hayward had in Game 4, Utah’s two best players have yet to play a single game together in the series.

However, with both of their names notably absent from tonight’s injury report, the Jazz will indeed have both their All-Star and their Defensive Player of the Year candidate in action for Game 5. Finally getting to see the Jazz operate with those two on the floor along with an essentially fully healthy roster (minus the already out of the rotation Alec Burks) will be an extremely important factor of this game in and of itself.

The Jazz have had to adapt and adjust to injuries all season long, but with all of their key guys in action, they’ll have no excuse but to get it done tonight. They’ve shown glimmers of what they could be capable of as a complete unit and that could finally all come together in Game 5. The way Utah plays tonight with that new-found strength will likely be very indicative of how they’ll perform for the remainder of the playoffs.

Of course ideally if the likes of Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert are firing on all cylinders, if George Hill plays well and if Utah’s main bench contributors including Joe Johnson, Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors can rise to the challenge, then their performance ought to be enough to defeat a Clippers team that will be without their starting power forward Blake Griffin.

And although the series is tied at two games apiece and up to three games could still remain to decide who the victor ultimately will be, the Jazz have to view this contest as the pivotal bout that it is. Win tonight, and all they have left to do is take care of business on their home court. However, with a Game 5 loss, Utah will find itself on the brink of elimination and be forced to eventually deal with the unenviable task of taking Game 7 in LA in order to advance to the second round.

Also, while a win tonight would undoubtedly instill the Jazz with an overwhelming amount of confidence for Game 6, it would have the exact opposite effect on LA. The Clippers aren’t exactly known for their strong finishing ability in the postseason and if they drop a second bout at home and in turn find themselves facing elimination, there’s a good chance that they’ll start to waver mentally, further improving Utah’s hope of sealing the deal in Salt Lake City on Friday.

Therefore, the Jazz ought to view tonight as a must-win. Doing so would give them such a stark advantage, while losing would put them in such a daunting hole, that it could very well doom the series for them. What makes closing out the series difficult for the Jazz is that they have to either win two games in a row, something they have yet to do this series, or win both of the remaining games in LA.

While one might speculate that a Jazz team at full strength should have the edge over a Griffin-less LA team on a level playing field, considering Utah’s season-long struggles against the Clippers as well as that difficult scenario I just described of their path to getting four wins, they’re most certainly going to be in for a challenge.

Regardless of what happens tonight, if this series has taught us anything it’s that neither team is going to buckle or give in. Both have had to deal with injury woes, but each has been resilient. Therefore, I expect both teams to come out swinging as each will be highly motivated to take control of the series with a formidable 3-2 lead.

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We’re just hours away from tip-off as the game is set to start at 8:30 pm MT. Utah’s finally healthy rotation that includes their strong bench unit that took massive strides towards coming together at the end of Game 4 should give the Jazz plenty of weapons to give the Clippers trouble on their home court.

If such is the case, the Jazz will have a great chance to win tonight’s game and take back home court advantage for good, hopefully leaving just one game left where Utah can close the deal at home in Game 6.

But first, that will only happen if Utah comes out strong tonight and rides the emotion and confidence of having a full strength squad to earn a pivotal Game 5 victory.