The Triple Team: Jazz clutch resilience leads to Game 5 win over Clippers


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LOS ANGELES — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 96-92 Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Clippers from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz end up on top in back-and-forth fourth

After a close early third quarter where neither team could get its offense going, the Jazz took advantage of Chris Paul sitting to go on a 11-4 run to get an eight point lead. That prompted Doc Rivers to put Paul in the game earlier than he usually does in a critical Game 5 scenario, with 11:17 left in the fourth.

From there, it took a couple of possessions, but Paul and the Clippers made their move. J.J. Redick got going with five consecutive free throws, then Paul hit two consecutive open threes when the Jazz couldn't figure out their defense.

Jazz mess up defensively here, leading to a game-tying Chris Paul three pic.twitter.com/1E95eXiLLx — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2017

So what did the Jazz do? Well, they called timeout, and figured it out. They put Rodney Hood in the game, someone who could navigate screens a little bit better than a tired Johnson. And then they went on an 8-0 run of their own, led by Gordon Hayward's shotmaking, George Hill's creation, and the Clippers falling asleep a little bit on defense.

But then the Clippers fell asleep a little bit here letting Hayward get this wide open: pic.twitter.com/Ug4RBpKIh3 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2017

Then the Clippers responded with yet another punch of their own: a 8-2 run again fueled by Redick and the defensive attention the Jazz were giving Chris Paul. So it was again a 2-point game when this play happened:

Gordon Hayward's effort to come for this rebound (and credited assist!) to Joe Johnson earned the Jazz three big points on this play: pic.twitter.com/qK6pP6Ra56 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2017

That's one of the most athletic plays I've seen. Usually, the Jazz's plan is just have those corner 3-point shooters drop back on defense, but Hayward knew that the Clippers were unlikely to attack in transition with the score the way that it was. "You wanted to stay in the play," Hayward said. "Both teams are kind of setting things up, so you can afford to crash the glass a little bit and just try to make a play."

A minute later, another example of Hayward's hustle. Pause this video at the beginning. See how Hayward is behind Paul? But Paul is busy talking to the referees, while Hayward just sprints the floor for the ball and gets fouled. That's another two points in a critical situation.

Pause this video at the beginning. See how Hayward is behind Paul, but CP3 is busy talking to the refs? Leads to two Hayward FTs pic.twitter.com/fvOOJJf5GT — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2017

Finally, another minute later: Hayward and Paul end up on the ground, struggling for the loose ball and rebound. Even though it's after the whistle, Hayward fights Paul for it, even eliciting a Paul shove.

It was great to see Gordon stand up to Chris Paul and his antics on this loose ball. #takenote#utahjazz#UTAvsLACpic.twitter.com/jutMKZhntL — Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) April 26, 2017

That repeated effort in a close game, coming off a game that he missed most of due to food poisoning, changed the series. Without it, the Jazz down win Game 5.

"I was definitely tired out there," Hayward said. "I'm pretty tired and thankful we have a couple of days off, try to recover as much as I can." After that, it's understandable.

2. After struggling, Jazz scoring options come through in fourth

I think it's fair to look at the box score lines of the Jazz's secondary guards and be disappointed. After all, Hill went 3-12 from the field for 12 points, Hood went 6-17 from the field for 16 points, and Joe Johnson went 6-14 from the field for 14 points. When the points are pretty equal to or less than the field goal attempts, that's usually not a good sign.

But all three of them stepped up in important ways in the fourth quarter. Hood co-led the Jazz (along with Hayward) in fourth quarter scoring with nine points, making three of five 3-point shots. He also played more minutes than anyone else on the floor in the fourth, and played some nice defense, I thought.

Hill didn't make a field goal in the quarter, but made all four free throws to seal the game when even one miss would have given the Clippers an opportunity to tie the game. He also had three assists in the quarter, making the right play to lead to eight Jazz points.

And what more can you say about Johnson? We already highlighted the huge 3-point shot he made on the Hayward tip-out, but he may have scored the game's most important basket with a tough stepback jumper over Luc Mbah a Moute that elicited this Steve Ballmer reaction:

And finally, Joe Johnson's last shot and associated Steve Ballmer face: pic.twitter.com/jJDmzyHZZ1 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2017

That's really encouraging for the Jazz: none of those players really did play as well as they can, and yet the Jazz were still able to win the game behind some stellar defense and timely plays. If more shots go down early, it may have been a far more leisurely contest.

3. Benches still matter in the playoffs

One of the interesting subplots about this series was how a very deep team (the Jazz) would compete against a very-evenly matched star-laden but shallow team (the Clippers). I thought in the playoffs, with naturally shortening rotations, that the Clippers might have the edge there. How much time would the benches really play?

But with one big injury to the Clippers, their bench has become a little bit exposed. Usual bench man Marreese Speights started, but played only 13 minutes, didn't hit a shot on the floor, and was a game-low -10 when he was out there.

That meant a lot of minutes playing small, with Jamal Crawford on the floor. That's fine, but Crawford was very average tonight, and gives up a lot on defense. After that, their bench is Paul Pierce, a hobbling Austin Rivers, a large Raymond Felton, a recently untombed Brandon Bass, and perpetually disappointing Wesley Johnson. It's bad.

Meanwhile, the Jazz have Johnson, Hood, and Derrick Favors, all of whom have started most of their career. The backup PG options aren't great, but even the guy who got the DNP tonight, Shelvin Mack, is pretty similar to Felton.

Basically, at all times, the Jazz are able to field a lineup with four to five guys who are capable at both offense and defense. Meanwhile, the Clippers have exactly zero lineups that have all five players who can credibly defend and attack, and maybe one or two that can with four players who can play both ends of the floor.

That means the Jazz can exploit mismatches over and over and over again. Late shot clock? Pass it to the guy who is being guarded by the bad Clippers' defender. Want to help to defend an action? Leave the guy who can't make an open shot.

Being versatile is the Jazz's biggest strength, and they're showing it again in this critical playoff series.

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