3 Reasons Why The Utah Jazz Won Their 1st Round Series
By Adam Coffman
Saved From Blake
The battle between the Jazz and Clippers was one of stars vs. depth. Los Angeles boasted perennial All-Star caliber talents in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, preferring to run almost all their offensive action through them, while Utah mostly worked the ball around and spread the load.
Griffin torched the Jazz for 26 and 24 points in Games 1 and 2 before succumbing to his toe injury. He was just too much for the slower Boris Diaw, who was tasked with defending him for much of the time they shared the floor.
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With him absent, the Clippers’ offense became increasingly one-dimensional – everything went through Paul, whether in isolation or off a ball screen.
Occasionally Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers, or J.J. Redick would pop up with a scoring boost, but the responsibility sat squarely on their point guard’s shoulders.
Both teams shifted to playing more small-ball as a result, with Los Angeles slotting in Luc Mbah a Moute at power forward and the Jazz using Gordon Hayward or Joe Johnson at the 4.
Given that this was not how Los Angeles was used to playing, that gave the Jazz a distinct personnel and strategical advantage.
In Game 7, the gas just ran out for Paul, as he finished with just 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting. As a result, the Clippers managed to score just 91 points despite strong scoring efforts from DeAndre Jordan and Crawford.
Perhaps the Jazz would have figured out the best way to slow down Griffin over the course of the series, but it’s clear his absence was a major factor behind the Jazz’s series win, as they were 3-1 in games when he did not play.