3 studs and 1 dud from Utah Jazz win over Clippers

Any win that the Utah Jazz can get without Donovan Mitchell is a good one. Last night, they took advantage of an especially depleted Clippers team with a dominant 121-92 victory.

The Jazz executed to perfection on both sides of the ball last night. They held the Clippers to just 36% shooting from the field. With that kind of inefficiency, it’s nearly impossible to win a game in the National Basketball Association.

It was a quality performance from the Jazzmen with several key contributors. The recently acquired Nickeil Alexander-Walker finds himself as an honorable mention for the second game in a row. He contributed a solid 13 points on 5/12 shooting to go with 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

Eric Paschall came to play as well, with 17 points on 7/14 shooting in just 18 minutes. Still, there were at least 3 Jazzmen who outperformed either Alexander-Walker or Paschall.

Utah Jazz stud: Rudy Gobert

We might as well change the format for these features. We could have easily titled this piece “2 studs, Rudy Gobert and 1 dud from Utah Jazz win over Clippers”.

That’s how consistent the Stifle Tower is. Last night, he finished with 19 points on 8/11 shooting from the field, 16 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Jazz outscored the Clippers in the paint by a final of 56-32. Gobert deserves the lion’s share of the credit for that tally. Of course, the Clippers were without a viable primary initiator. Robert Covington was their highest scorer with 18 points.

Covington is a fantastic player. He’s one we wanted for the Utah Jazz heading into the trade deadline. “Leading scorer” just isn’t a role he’s particularly familiar with.

Gobert still deserves recognition. Reggie Jackson was held to 7 points largely because Gobert’s presence loomed in the paint throughout most of the game. If the Clipper had a prayer in this one, they needed him to get going.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year had other plans.