10/24 Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Clippers: Keys to the Game

Key #1 – Control the Middle

It’s worth noting one more time that the LA Clippers’ two victories so far this season have come against two subpar teams. Nevertheless, in those games the Clips have absolutely dominated in several aspects, particularly in the paint on both ends of the floor.

LA is currently first in the league in points in the paint at 59 per game and first in the league in rebounds at 55.5 per game. Those incredible stats should come as no surprise as the Clippers’ daunting frontcourt duo of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are more than capable of dominating inside.

https://twitter.com/LAClippers/status/922145530590978048

Thus, that’s exactly where the Jazz will have to start if they hope to come away victorious in a difficult road match-up. Fortunately, their frontcourt pair is far from a couple of pushovers as Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors are both capable of competing with the best of them. Not to mention, Utah’s backup center Ekpe Udoh has looked absolutely phenomenal during his time as a Jazzman thus far and should help to further Utah’s attack and defense in the paint.

It’s no stretch whatsoever to presume that whichever team wins the battle of the bigs will come out on top, thus it will be critical that the Jazz keep Jordan and Griffin in check while enforcing their will on the interior. If they can do so, then Utah may very well hand the Clippers their first loss of the 2017-18 season.