The Utah Jazz will take their series against the Clippers to seven games after losing in Game 6. What caused them to lose on Friday?
With an opportunity to close the series out early at home, the Utah Jazz fell to the Los Angeles Clippers by a score of 98-93 in Game 6, meaning the series will go to a Game 7 to be played in LA.
Unlike in Game 5, where the Clippers stormed out to an early lead, the Jazz were the ones to step on the accelerator early, leading by as many as nine in the first quarter, but a 7-0 Los Angeles run allowed them to bring it back within two before the end of the period.
Utah Jazz
The score would then bounce back and forth for awhile, with the tally at halftime being 47-45 in favor of the Clippers.
From there, Los Angeles would go on a tear, using runs of 18-4 and 11-3 to lead by as many as 14 in the fourth.
The Jazz comeback, led by Gordon Hayward, who scored 14 points in the final period, fell short in the end.
As has become routine, Hayward and Chris Paul led the scoring for their respective teams, with the former putting up 31 points on 20 shots and the latter finishing with 29 points and eight assists.
Even though the Jazz still have a chance to win the series, it looks like the momentum is firmly on the Clippers’ side.
Utah will have to overcome Los Angeles’ home-court advantage on Sunday, although they have actually won two of their games there this series.
Of course, there were plenty of things to learn from this disappointing defeat, which we’ll get into now.