Utah Jazz: Takeaways From Game 5 Win Over Clippers

The J.J. Game

Thanks to some sharp defense from Joe Ingles and others, Clippers 2-guard J.J. Redick was more or less shut down for the first four games of the series, averaging less than eight points and shooting just 27 percent from his specialty behind the arc.

However, Redick went off Tuesday night for 26 points, making three of his seven long-range attempts and even going 4-for-5 from two-point territory, a rarity for him.

The Jazz matched up many different players on Redick, from Ingles to Rodney Hood to Dante Exum, but Redick was able to score in different ways on all of them.

The foundation of his game is catch-and-shoot threes, often off of a pin-down screen. At times, these attempts are made more difficult as he often has to launch himself into the air at odd angles in order to escape the defense.

He also was able to find a sliver of space on perimeter dribble hand-offs thanks to a miscommunication on the Jazz’s part. Those are the attempts Utah can’t afford to allow, as he’s dangerous enough shooting the tough looks.

Some of his shots will fall from time to time no matter what caliber of defense the Jazz play, especially as Redick is not their main defensive focus. However, what Utah cannot have happen is for him to flourish from inside the arc, as he did in Game 5.

Rudy Gobert and Gordon Hayward wait just a touch too long to help off their respective matchups in the clip below, letting Redick get all the way to the rim for the floater.

With some success coming from feeding him touches, don;t be surprised if the Clippers look to get Redick some more shots going forward. They’ve done a respectable job so far, but the Jazz would do well to nail down their gameplan for stopping Los Angeles’ sharpshooter.