Jazz-Clippers live blog: 3 takeaways from Utah's 132-106 Game 3 loss in Los Angeles

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are on the road to play the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday night.

The top-seeded Jazz are coming off a 117-111 win over the Clippers to take 2-0 lead after consecutive home games.

Click here for live stats after tipoff at 6:30 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on ABC, and streamed on WatchESPN.

Follow live reaction and commentary below.

Saturday, 09:16 pm

3 takeaways from Utah's 132-106 Game 3 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers

Here are three observations as the Clippers took the first game in Los Angeles 132-106 from the top-seeded Utah Jazz.Kawhi Leonard scored 24 of his 34 points in the second half to go along with 12 rebounds and five assists, and George finished with 31 points and five rebounds, including five 3-pointers.1. A series againFor as good as Utah has looked for most of the first two games — save for a comeback in the fourth quarter in Game 2 and a can't-make second in Game 1 — this series has been scarcely out of the Jazz's control.On Saturday night, it was time for the Clippers to reassert their own dominance.If the old cliche that it isn't a series until the home team loses holds true, then Saturday's opener in Los Angeles proved that the Jazz aren't going to be able to sleepwalk to a sweep — gentlemanly or otherwise — in what most observers projected to be the most competitive second-round series of the playoffs."It lit a fire under us," Clippers guard Paul George told ESPN when asked about going down 2-0. "We had to come out and play, protect our home court."We knew we had to come in here and take this home court."The Jazz can still take a game in LA and force a chance to closeout the series on their next trip back to the Wasatch Front. But that won't be the case without some mid-game adjustments from Quin Snyder.Watching Donovan Mitchell limp off the court and into the locker room in the fourth complicates matters, too. He returned to the bench in the fourth — even gave a thumbs up to his teammates — but did not return to the game as Utah took the 26-point loss.

Accept the challenge. pic.twitter.com/5GDbv9ZLR9
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 13, 2021

2. Fast starts, who needs 'em?It was almost deja vu.The Clippers' emphasis on starting strong was pushed to the test — again — as the Jazz jumped out to a 10-3 lead on a putback layup by Rudy Gobert.It happened again: a slow start, a forced comeback, and not enough energy to sustain a win.Then, suddenly, it wasn't.Reggie Jackson began to rain down 3-pointers — he had four in the first quarter and five overall — and George put the Clippers on his back to pace a 14-3 run that gave LA a 16-13 advantage with 3:55 left in the opening quarter.And the Clippers never trailed again.LA led 64-49 at halftime thanks to 20 points from George and took a 94-83 advantage after three quarters.

2 strong.

📺 ABC | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/nS4wQQ9srI
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 13, 2021

3. No one's stopped Mitchell, but Clips did as well as anyone elseMitchell averaged 41 points through the first two games of the second-round series, down from his 45-point outing in Game 1 in Salt Lake City.Stopping him was paramount for the Clippers as the series shifted to Los Angeles — a tall task for anyone, except maybe a team that slowed him down just enough with a mix of zone defense in the fourth quarter Thursday night at Vivint Arena.They did as well as anyone else Saturday, too.Mitchell went 0 for 3 during a scoreless first quarter, the first time he's been held without a made shot during the 2021 postseason, and had just two assists. Sure, he finished with 16 points at halftime, but that's just deviating toward the mean for the All-Star guard."I thought we played hard," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue told ESPN during a quarter-break interview. "We held Donovan to zero points in the first quarter, and in the second quarter, he made some tough shots. We did a good job; he made some tough shots on us, but he's a great player."Mitchell finished with 30 points with four assists and five rebounds, but needed 24 shots to get there."He's a great player," George said. "He's going to score, but we have to make it hard for him."— Sean Walker, KSL.com

Saturday, 08:36 pm

Clippers maintain double-digit lead — but it could be worse for the Jazz

Silver-lining: It could be worse.Kawhi Leonard schooled Royce O'Neale for a dunk, went up and under for an easy layup and then drilled a pull up jumper all in quick succession on his way to a 12-point third quarter.Despite Leonard taking over, the Jazz cut into the lead, heading into the final quarter down 94-83.Donovan Mitchell scored 10 points in the quarter and leads all scorers with 26. Mitchell, though, doesn't seem to have his usual explosiveness. He's 5 of 9 from the 3-point line, but just 3 of 10 in the paint where he has struggled to attack the rim.Yet, despite all that, the Jazz are just down 11 mostly due to some elite 3-point shooting. Utah is 16 of 34 from deep.The problem? The Clippers are 14 of 29.— Ryan Miller, KSL.com

Saturday, 08:20 pm

Kawhi Leonard has 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block — and this mean throwdown 😲

OKAY KAWHI THROW IT DOWN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/YYvTDI0SwF
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 13, 2021

Saturday, 07:48 pm

Welcome to the postseason, "Playoff P."

Paul George had a game-high 20 points in the first half — including 4-for-5 from deep — to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 64-49 halftime lead over the Utah Jazz, which shot 52.1% from the field before the break while holding the Jazz to just 40.0%.Reggie Jackson added 14 points for LA, connecting on his first four 3-pointer attempts and finishing 4-of-7 from deep. Nicolas Batum had 11 points and six rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard scored 10 points with six rebounds and two assists for the Clippers."All we've got to do is compete," Clippers coach Ty Lue said into a hot mic during a timeout in the second quarter. "If we compete, we win the game. Everything else is out the window."

📊 20 PTS / 8-14 FG / 4-5 3FG

PG feelin' it with three minutes left in the first half! pic.twitter.com/QfNoyvwn4l
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 13, 2021

After being held scoreless for the first time in any postseason quarter in the first, Donovan Mitchell had 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting for the Jazz by halftime. The rising superstar drained his first 3-pointer with about seven minutes left in the half, and added three more in the second quarter to finish 4-for-6 from deep.Joe Ingles has 14 points and three rebounds for the Jazz at halftime, and Jordan Clarkson added 11 points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench for the visitors, who were out rebounded 26-25 and assisted on just 6-of-18 made baskets.Rudy Gobert was limited to 4 points and five rebounds in just under 15 minutes of play in the first half. — Sean Walker, KSL.com

Saturday, 07:16 pm

Clippers take early lead, but Joe Ingles is keeping things close

At his pregame media availability session, Los Angeles Clippers coach Ty Lue was asked why it'd been so difficult for his team to get off to even a normal start to halves. In the first two games, the Jazz outscored the Clippers 42-9 in the first three minutes of halves."I think the biggest thing is defensively we haven't gotten stops, so we're not able to get out in transition and get easy and early baskets," Lue said. "That's been the biggest thing that I've seen. Teams are scoring at a high rate and a high clip to start the quarter."So how did Game 3 start?Bojan Bogdanovic hit a small floater and Joe Ingles banged home two open 3s. In the first 74 seconds, the Jazz had an 8-0 lead and Lue had to call an early timeout.But there was still a lot of time left.LA immediately responded with a 12-2 run to take the lead and ended the quarter with a 27-23 advantage.The Clippers were finally able to slow down Mitchell a bit — or at least opted to make someone else beat them. LA mixed up its coverages, sending hard traps at Mitchell which forced him to give up the ball time and time again. He often found the open guy, but those shots didn't always go down.Mitchell finished the quarter scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting, but he did add two assists.Joe Ingles leads all scorers with 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting; he knocked home three 3-pointers in the quarter.Paul George has 7 points and Kawhi Leonard and Reggie Jackson both have 6 after the first.— Ryan Miller, KSL.com

Saturday, 05:12 pm

Quin Snyder says Mike Conley not playing has nothing to do with 2-0 lead

Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder made it clear ahead of Game 3 that Mike Conley missing his third straight game has nothing to do with his team being up 2-0 in the series.Conley traveled with the team to Los Angeles but was ruled out Saturday afternoon with a mild hamstring strain that he suffered in Utah's closeout win over Memphis.He missed the first two games of the series, both Utah wins, due to the injury."It has nothing to do with us feeling any form of accomplishment having won a couple games," Snyder said of Conley missing Game 3. "Mike's not ready to go yet, and he's working hard every day to try to get back, but, no, in no way are we feeling some sort of even small form of success."Snyder mentioned how Memphis won Game 1 against the Jazz and how the Clippers were down 2-0 to Dallas. The series is far from over; if Conley could play he would."Obviously you're glad you won a couple games but seeing that we lost Game 1 against Memphis last series; the Clippers, obviously, lost against Dallas and then won the series, so we know how difficult the series is going to be and when Mike's ready, he'll be back."Conley was arguably the Jazz's best player in the first round, averaging 20.3 points and 10.0 assists in the first four games of the series.— Ryan Miller, KSL.com

Saturday, 04:58 pm

Clippers without Serge Ibaka for remainder of the playoffs

The Clippers will officially be without starting center Serge Ibaka for the remainder of the playoffs, as well.The 6-foot-10, 235-pound NBA veteran underwent back surgery Thursday afternoon and will not return for the postseason — however much or little of that remains for Los Angeles."It's tough. I talked to him, checked on him, just said prayers and get healthy. He said, 'I'm good coach; just go out and win,'" LA coach Tyrone Lue said as the Clippers prepared for Game 3 in Los Angeles. "It's tough when you lose a guy who has been a starter … and it just doesn't work out for him. Hopefully he's good, getting over that, and can come back strong next year."Ibaka missed 30 consecutive games with the back injury before returning for the final two games of the regular season, then going down again after the Clippers' first two playoff games against Dallas in the first round.The 31-year-old Ibaka was the Clippers' biggest offseason addition after 2018-20 Sixth Man of the Year honoree Montrezl Harrell and JaMychal Green left the team during free agency. He also helped bring Kawhi Leonard from Toronto to Southern California, adding a championship piece to a team that was seen as being on the cusp of championship contention — in a market that also included LeBron James at the "other" LA team that plays in the downtown Staples Center.Ibaka averaged 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 23.3 minutes per game during the regular season, starting the first 39 contests before being sidelined March 15. That's his lowest average since his first year in Oklahoma City in 2009-10, according to ESPN."There is nothing I would love more than being on the court helping my brothers and trying to win a championship for #ClipperNation," Ibaka posted on Instagram. "It's been a very tough season, I worked very hard to be back in time for the Playoffs but sometimes injuries get in the way and health has to be a priority. I appreciate all the love and support from everyone and now I have my mindset on supporting my team and getting healthy and ready for next season."Game 3 of Jazz-Clippers tips at 6:30 p.m. MT on ABC.— Sean Walker, KSL.com

Saturday, 03:31 pm

Mike Conley OUT for the Jazz

Mike Conley, who traveled with the Jazz to Los Angeles, will miss his third straight game with a right hamstring strain.Conley, who hasn't played since Game 5 of the first-round series with Memphis, averaged 17.4 points and 8.6 assists while shooting 54.8% from 3-point range in the series against the Grizzlies.

ICYMI: Mike Conley is OUT for Game 3 of the @utahjazz second-round series with the Clippers. #TakeNote x #NBAplayoffs pic.twitter.com/qxilKld0lW
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) June 12, 2021

Saturday, 03:00 pm

Since last time

Here's a look at everything that has happened since the last time the Jazz and Clippers met, a 117-111 home win for Utah on Thursday night.

Clippers take 0-2 deficit vs. Jazz, but nowhere they haven't been before

Bojan the Kawhi Stopper? Jazz forward has surprised with 'superb' defense in 2nd round series

From the comments: The Jazz were crushed by the zone — is there any answer?

𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝟐, 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝟑

⏰: 6:30 PM MT
📺: @ABC
📻: @ZoneSportsNet
🎧: https://t.co/zv02vlgE31
🍿: @vivintarena watch party: https://t.co/yYH9zxIrSn #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/Enbt68uCov
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) June 12, 2021

Jazz-Clippers live blog: 3 takeaways from Utah's 132-106 Game 3 loss in Los Angeles

By KSL.com Sports | Updated - June 12, 2021 at 9:36 p.m. | Posted - June 12, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.

3 takeaways from Utah's 132-106 Game 3 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers

Clippers maintain double-digit lead — but it could be worse for the Jazz

Kawhi Leonard has 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block — and this mean throwdown 😲

Welcome to the postseason, "Playoff P."

Clippers take early lead, but Joe Ingles is keeping things close

Quin Snyder says Mike Conley not playing has nothing to do with 2-0 lead

Clippers without Serge Ibaka for remainder of the playoffs

Mike Conley OUT for the Jazz

Since last time

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