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Los Angeles Clippers: 3 Takeaways From Brutal Game 5 Loss

By Nicholas Agar-Johnson

April 25, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) reacts while watching game action against the Utah Jazz during the second half in game five of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
April 25, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) reacts while watching game action against the Utah Jazz during the second half in game five of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /
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2017 NBA Playoffs
Utah Jazz forward Joe Johnson moves the ball against Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers, albeit very slowly. Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports. /

1: No Pace, No Space

The Los Angeles Clippers are not exactly a run-and-gun team. They finished the season with the 16th-fastest pace in the league, per Basketball-Reference. However, they are basically the Warriors in comparison to the Jazz, who finished dead last in pace.

Game 5 was once again played at Utah’s speed in what has become a theme throughout this series. The Jazz continually run the clock down to the final seconds before shooting and get back on defense quickly enough to prevent the Clippers from getting early offense.

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The Jazz actually managed to beat the Clippers 14-11 in fast-break points.

With Rudy Gobert still recovering from his knee injury, the Clippers need to run at every opportunity and hope that Gobert cannot recover to the paint in time. Doc Rivers did try to boost the pace with a small lineup to start the second quarter, but they were destroyed by Gobert inside.

Going with a smaller lineup will naturally leave the glass open, which was also an issue for the Clippers last night. They may need DeAndre Jordan to play 48 minutes in Games 6 and 7.

The only Clipper taller than 6’10” to get minutes Tuesday night besides Jordan was Marreese Speights, who is basically a tall shooting guard. Speights did not help on either end, as he got destroyed on defense, missed all three of his shots and grabbed two rebounds in 13 minutes.

The Clippers have some tough choices to make between boosting the pace and grabbing rebounds. That being said, they have been close to victory in every game this series.

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If they can do slightly better in either rebounding or running, they have a good chance at turning this series around.

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