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SALT LAKE CITY — When Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin found out that All-Star point guard Chris Paul was traded to his team, he could hardly contain his excitement. The moment, which was caught on camera, shows Griffin chest bumping teammate DeAndre Jordan and exclaiming, “Lob city".
The nickname has stuck and the Clippers have been nothing short of exciting this season. The additions of Paul, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler have given the Clippers a squad that has quickly become one of the best teams in the Western Conference and in the NBA.
The Clippers (7-3) enter tonight’s game against the Jazz (8-4) as the leaders of the Pacific division and winners of their last three games. Their most recent victory came against Deron Williams and the Nets in a Martin Luther King day matinee in L.A.
Randy Foye, who started due to a Paul injury, said on Clippers TV that the key to their win over the Nets was defense.
“We stuck to our defensive rules,” Foye said. “And we rebounded when they missed shots and we got out and got into our offensive sets and guys made big shots.”
The Jazz are coming off arguably their best win of the season, 106-96 over the Nuggets in Denver. Paul Millsap scored 16 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to put a close game out of reach.
“I credit my success to my teammates and my coaching staff,” he said in a post-game interview with NBA TV. “They have confidence to get me the ball in the right place at the right time.”
The play of Millsap and center Al Jefferson has been critical to the success of the Jazz this season. The frontcourt duo leads the Jazz in scoring and rebounding. Millsap averages 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, while Jefferson averages 18.7 points, 8.9 boards, and 1.9 blocks per contest. The two are playing better together after a challenging start to the season.
“It was a rocky start for me and Big Al, but we’re finally coming together,” Millsap said. “We’re finally mixing together. It took us awhile, but we’re starting to find each other down there and starting to know each other’s tendencies and it’s going to help us throughout the season.”
The pair will need to be ready for the Clippers as L.A. boasts one of the best young frontcourts in the league in Griffin and Jordan. Not only have Griffin and Jordan been the recipients of several Paul lobs this season, but they’ve been a force inside the paint for the Clippers.
Griffin leads the Clippers in scoring and rebounding, averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds per game. Jordan is second in rebounds at 7.6 per game and is first in blocks at three per game.
The Jazz will not have to face Paul. Paul, who leads the league in steals, sat out the victory over the Nets with a strained left hamstring and will not play in tonight’s game.
The Jazz have won seven of their last eight games and are looking to improve to 7-1 at home on the season.
While the Jazz have been successful in the early part of this season, Millsap believes there’s still room for growth.
“As a team, as a whole, we’re still coming together,” he said. “Within time we’ll be where we need to be. We’re still not there yet.”
Jarrod is a freelance writer who writes Jazz previews for KSL.com. You can follow Jarrod Hiatt on Twitter at @jarrodhiatt.
