Utah Jazz: Takeaways From Game 2 Loss To Clippers
By Adam Coffman
Tough Shooting
The Clippers brought a new level of toughness to the series on Tuesday, and in no other area was there more evidence than the Jazz offense. As a team, Utah shot only 45 percent, with many key players contributing to the lower percentage.
The Jazz don’t have a ton of explosive finishers around the basket. Most of their penetrators prefer to draw the defense in and kick out to an open shooter on the perimeter. In late shot clock situations, this leads to some rushed and contested shot attempts.
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Luc Mbah a Moute is one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, and he’s been matched up on Gordon Hayward during this series, leading to some sub-par shooting performances for the All-Star.
Hayward shot just 5-for-15 on Tuesday, following up a 7-for-18 outing on Saturday.
Other main pieces like George Hill and Joe Johnson also struggled in Game 2, shooting 5-for-12 and 6-for-15 from the field, respectively.
Without Gobert functioning as the dive man, opposing defenders aren’t at all compelled to sag down into the paint.
This leaves little room to attack a close-out on the catch for the Jazz, which is important given how their guards aren’t prolific slashers.
Utah shot 10-of-25 (40 percent) from behind the arc, but Johnson, who is often counted on to carry the offense off the bench, missed all four of his attempts from deep. With how low-scoring this game was, just one of those falling could have turned the tide.