Key #1 – Force and thrive off of turnovers
In the previous contest between the Utah Jazz and LA Clippers, the Jazz were absolutely able to get the better of the Clips in the turnover battle. The Jazz forced LA into 19 giveaways while turning the ball over just 13 times themselves. Those 19 turnovers led to 24 Jazz points which provided a huge boost to their typically underwhelming offense.
And struggling to take care of the ball has been an issue all season long for the Clippers that the Jazz should very much aim to take advantage of. LA is just 21st in the league with 15.1 turnovers per game while also ranking 22nd in opponent points off turnovers per game at 17.4.
Meanwhile, despite all of Utah’s faults this season, one area where they have been really good has been at stealing the ball, but unfortunately they haven’t converted all that well from there. Although Utah is second in the league in takeaways, they rank just 13th in points off turnovers. In other words, if the Jazz are to beat a surging Clippers team tonight, they’ll need to not only take advantage of their tendency to turn the ball over, but then also convert on those turnovers at a higher rate.
After a giveaway, the Jazz would do well to look to improve in transition and get themselves some easy baskets so that they can avoid falling into the offensive lulls that have become so prevalent of late. The Clippers are a very effective scoring team, so for the Jazz to have any hope of success against them, they’ll need to get their offense going in whatever way possible, including on open looks in transition following turnovers.