Game thread: Utah Jazz aim for statement victory against LA Clippers

The Utah Jazz have a chance to make a major statement if they’re able to pull off a victory against an elite LA Clippers squad.

The last time the Utah Jazz had a legitimate measuring stick game to see how they compare to an elite foe was on Monday when they faced off against the Miami Heat. Encouragingly, for the better part of that game, the Jazz were right there competing blow for blow with the South Beach squad. Save for an unfortunate fourth-quarter drought and the recurring woe of poor bench play, the Jazz looked every bit Miami’s equal.

Even though the game ended in a loss, it left me feeling more optimistic about Utah’s hopes of righting the ship than I had felt in their five wins over poor teams prior to that.

In their next bout on Saturday evening, though, the Jazz will have an even more meaningful measuring stick game as they’ll take on one of the best teams in the league, and one that could very well be in their path if they hope to make a run to the Western Conference Finals and beyond. That team, of course, is the LA Clippers.

The Clippers currently sit at 23-10, good for third place in the West. But even that elite mark is misleading. The Clippers have become known as the load management kings as they are very measured in their resting approaches with both Paul George and especially Kawhi Leonard. This squad knows it’s crafted for a deep postseason run, so they’re OK with sacrificing regular season wins and seeding if it means being at their apex come April, May and possibly June.

In other words, even a solid 23-10 mark doesn’t do justice to just how good they are when firing on all cylinders and playing at full strength. They just toppled the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day in a game where they showed exactly what they’re capable of.

So they’ll be riding some significant momentum when the Jazz come to town to visit on Saturday night, meaning that the Utah squad will have to be at its best if it hopes to arise victorious.

The Jazz are coming off a too-close-for-comfort bout against the Portland Trail Blazers wherein they dominated most of the game but nearly gave it away in the final period. If they can play like they did in that game, minus the fourth quarter slump, they could very well find themselves in close contention with LA.

Game Data

Broadcast Info

Tip-off: 8:30 PM MT on December 28 from Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM & 1280 AM Salt Lake City)

Projected Starting Lineups

Injuries

The Jazz still don’t have Mike Conley and won’t for some time as he’s yet projected to miss multiple weeks with the hamstring injury. Of lesser consequence, the Jazz are also without Nigel Williams-Goss who is dealing with back spasms.

At this point, it appears as if all the Clippers are set to play in this contest as there has been no word of Kawhi or PG resting. That could very well change leading up to tip-off, though. But with two full days off between their Christmas bout, it would be surprising if they weren’t good to go.

Prediction

Ideally the Jazz will be able to take all the positives they’ve shown against Miami and Portland, and simply eliminate the bad stretches while hopefully getting more contributions out of Jordan Clarkson and the rest of the bench. If they do that, I could truly see them finally putting up a statement game and defeating a tough Clippers team on the road.

Unfortunately, while I find that possible, I don’t find it likely. And I’m feeling relatively certain that the Clips will emerge victorious in this one. The Action Network has them as nine-point favorites and that feels justifiable to me. I’m going Clippers 114 – Jazz 105.

Discussion

#UTAatLAC is the Twitter hashtag for the game and our live comment thread below will be up and rolling throughout the game as well. Go Jazz!