Jazz: Gobert, who injured his knee just 17 seconds into the series opener, joined two assistant coaches for a pregame meal in the media dining room, an area rarely visited by players. A lot of that has to do with Gobert not being on the court.
Joe Johnson, for example, missed all of his threes tonight after some critical shots in Game 1, he finished with 13 points on 6-15 shooting. But Houston used an 8-2 spurt, highlighted by a three-pointer from Eric Gordon, to push the lead to 81-68 with just more than three minutes remaining in the third.
Buoyed by a newfound sense of urgency, the Clippers took it to the Utah Jazz from the opening tip.
A series that was expected to be a battle of size on the interior has been redistributed to the perimeter. He was unable to practice much due to his troublesome knee, so he's clearly out of game shape, looking exhausted for most of the second half.
In the second quarter, Joe Johnson entered the game off the bench and helped cut the Clippers' advantage to only five points only five minutes into the second period. Los Angeles defeated Utah in three out of four head-to-head regular-season meetings, and all three of the Clippers' victories came by at least 13 points. The Utah Jazz are allowing 31.8 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 33.5 rebounds per game. With Gobert out - Griffin and Jordan needed the own the paint and they did on Tuesday - outscoring the Jazz 60-38.
Without Gobert, the Jazz will rely heavily on Derrick Favors. Griffin powered down two dunks and Jordan again ended the scoring with an alley-oop slam from Jamal Crawford that sent the Clippers into halftime leading 51-42. LA would lead the entire way as they finished the game with a 99-91 victory. "Him and his people with deal with that". The Jazz can win this series if they get their best player back.
Because of this, Blake Griffin has been able to get into the paint at will, but thankfully, he's missed his fair share of shots. The Clippers were able to control the glass in game two and shot 52.4 percent from the field.
We need to live in the present, says Spurs boss Pochettino
When we dominate large spells, Chelsea found a way to win and it was similar a couple of years ago in the cup final. So we're at the stage that every fan dreams of, a day out at Wembley Stadium.
That died when Gobert was lost to an injury in Game 1.
Harden also had nine assists and seven rebounds, and Patrick Beverley had a playoff career-best 21 points along with 10 rebounds for the Rockets. George Hill has to be more aggressive at attacking the paint to either score, kick out to the open man, or draw fouls.
Chris Paul continued his clutch play in the fourth quarter of this series. Utah also won the teams' other postseason series 3-2 in 1991-92, which was interrupted by the riots after the Rodney King verdict.
NOTES: Jazz coach Quin Snyder said he has no idea when C Rudy Gobert will return.
It can't go without mentioning the lack of production from Gordon Hayward. Defensively, they did good job on any iso plays and kept the Jazz in one-and-done situations. Even when Hayward has gotten looks or attempts to drive to the basket, he's not making them count.
The All-Star centre shot 9-of-11 from the field.
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