Clippers’ five takeaways from their playoff loss to Utah Jazz
1. With Blake Griffin out (plantar plate right big toe injury), the Clippers had difficulty rebounding the basketball against the Utah Jazz in Game 5 Tuesday night at Staples Center.
DeAndre Jordan had his usual haul of rebounds, collecting 12.
But beyond that, Chris Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute were next in line with four each.
As a result, the Clippers were out-rebounded 43-34 by the Jazz, which now leads the series 3-2 with Game 6 Friday night in Salt Lake City.
The Clippers gave up seven offensive rebounds. Two of them in the fourth quarter were back-breakers.
The Clippers were down two points and had gotten the defensive stop they needed when George Hill missed a three-pointer with three minutes, four seconds left.
But Gordon Hayward hustled in for the rebound, beating the Clippers to the ball. He then tipped the ball out to Joe Johnson, who did what he has done best in the best-of-seven series.
Johnson buried a three-pointer to increase Utah’s lead to five points.
After another missed three-pointer by Hill and the Clippers now down by three points with 42.9 seconds remaining, Hayward got one more offensive rebound and was fouled.
He made both free throws.
Hayward and Johnson both finished with eight rebounds and Rudy Gobert had 11.
2. For the first time in the playoffs, there was a positive J.J. Redick sighting.
Redick, who had been rendered ineffective by the Jazz defense in the first four games, broke free for 26 points.
He was aggressive, making seven of 12 shots, three of seven of his three-pointers.
3. Jamal Crawford struggled in Game 5, unable to uncork another of his brilliant performances off the bench.
Crawford missed six of his eight shots and both of his three-pointers, finishing with just four points.
4. The Clippers had hoped having another body back in Austin Rivers would be beneficial.
But that was not the case for Rivers, who had been out almost a month with a strained left hamstring.
In his first game of the series, Rivers didn’t make a field goal, going 0-for-4. He had two points on two free throws.
It was clear that his conditioning wasn’t up to his usual standards because of the time off.
He was on a minute’s restriction anyway, playing just 17:47.
5. The Clippers’ bench was clearly outplayed in Game 5 by their counterparts from the Jazz.
LA got 16 points from its reserves. Meanwhile, the Jazz got 36 points from its reserves.
The bulk of that came from Johnson (14) and Rodney Hood (16).
Clippers Coach Doc Rivers even went to substitutes Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass and Wesley Johnson, but it did not work out.
Twitter: @BA_Turner
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