Clippers just aren’t hep to Jazz

Salt Lake City, again.

It’s bad enough that the Clippers have had their share of implosions in Utah but they had to bring it on home and put it on full display for their fans Wednesday night

It wasn’t quite as drastic as last month when they squandered an 18-point lead at Utah … but in the general neighborhood. On Wednesday, the collapse seemed swifter as the Jazz rallied for a 103-95 victory at Staples Center as the Clippers squandered a 12-point lead.

Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

For the Clippers, the root of their self-destruction was easily traceable. Unfortunately, for the Clippers, it overshadowed Blake Griffin’s 30 points and 12 rebounds, his 20th consecutive double-double, a team record. DeAndre Jordan had a career-high seven blocked shots.

All roads to the Clipper demise led to the third quarter. The Clippers (10-23) played one of their worst quarters of the season, scoring just 13 points and going three for 16 from the field for a lowly 18.8%.

Incredibly, this wasn’t the worst quarter of the season for the Clippers. They scored 13 points in a quarter against the Golden State Warriors in their second game of the season.

Utah has been a continuing problem for the Clippers, who had won five of their last six games before Wednesday. It has been this way for them in the season series against the Jazz. Utah has outscored the Clippers, 88-45, in the third quarters of their three games this season, all Jazz victories.

This time, the Clippers led by six points at the half and all their productive work vanished in about three Jazz possessions. Utah went on a 16-3 run to take a 67-60 lead and the Clippers missed their first seven shots of the third quarter before Eric Gordon ended the drought with 6:25 remaining in the period.

“It’s on us because we knew they were going to come out and play hard,” Gordon said. “Out of all three games we’ve played them, it’s happened. The second half has been hurting us against them. We didn’t bring it to our tempo.

“They execute and come at you hard. You could say experience, but they outworked us a little bit.”

Gordon had 19 points but a rough shooting night from the field, going seven for 20. There was bound to be talk about Gordon but, as it turned out, it was about Jazz rookie forward Gordon Hayward, who had a breakout night.

Hayward went scoreless in the first half and finished with 17 points, hitting three three-pointers. His career high had been nine points and he had scored 55 points in 25 games. That would be 55 total points before facing the Clippers on Wednesday.

Gordon, naturally, knows the other Gordon because of their Indiana connection.

“We’re from the same hometown and I’ve played against him a lot when I was younger,” Gordon said. “He hit a lot of wide-open shots. He was open and he knocked them down.”

Meanwhile, Griffin could take little solace in the double-double team mark.

“I guess it’s cool to hold a record like that,” he said. “It’s just like you can score all the points and you win all these scoring titles and get all these MVPs, but if you don’t win a championship… guys get paid for that.”

“It’s like that — but on a much-smaller scale. You can have these records and score all these points but if you’re not winning … it’s like, what good does it do?”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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