Los Angeles Clippers vs Utah Jazz game impressions

Miscellaneous

• Wasn't quite a soldout game but probably about 3/4's full, understandable for a Monday night game vs. the Jazz.
• Decent amount of Jazz fans sprinkled across the crowd, good D-Will, Big Al, and Karl Malone jerseys.
• I was still able to find some completely empty rows to sit in.
• The new court effects used with some high-tech projectors in the pre-game are very awesome.

Game Related Notes

• Jazz still need to work on their perimeter defense. (Reggie Bullock with 4 three pointers, REALLY?!)
• Blake Griffin was toying with our whole roster, Booker got him to take a few questionable shots at least.
• I thought Spencer Hawes was a good pick-up for the Clips this summer, but he looked like a scrub out there tonight.
• I didn't even realize Chris Paul had a triple double until I got home.
• Enes Kanter 's offensive game finally made a solid appearance tonight with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
• Unfortunately, it looks like he straight up Favors' talent Space-Jam-style, since he only finished with 6 points and 3 rebounds.
• Favors was the latest victim of Quin's ultra-conservative foul limiting minutes. Was taken out with 2 fouls in the 2nd quarter, and 3 fouls in the 3rd quarter.
• Booker is proving to be our most consistent bench player. Been saying it for a while, he's Millsap-lite (although he does make knuckleheaded moves sometimes).
• Gobert got posterized but also had some solid dunks/blocks of his own.
• Felt like Hayward missed so many open 3 pointers but still finished respectively from outside at 5 for 12 and 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists overall. Very tidy game by Hayward.
• Dante Exum looked as good if not better than Burke, but Burke was going up against Chris Paul while Exum was going against Jordan Farmar.
• Alec Burks noodly moves always make me happy.
• Cheered the loudest on Burks, Exum, and Gobert plays. Not due to me liking them more than other players, but due to them making wow-worthy plays.
• Rodney Hood still needs to work on his defense but still finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists in 18 minutes, not bad for a rook.
• Joe Ingles appears to be a part of this rotation. R.I.P. Evans. But in seriousness he looks like a nice complementary passing wing with the backup unit.
• Jazz appeared to prefer playing down by 6 points all game. The Clippers would get a double digit lead or the Jazz would tie the game but for the majority of the game, the Jazz were down by 5-7 points.
• I just looked at the play by play and 14:13 out of the possible 48:00 the Jazz were down by 5-7 points. Pretty large portion of the game for such a small margin. Very interesting.....
• Quin Snyder was very engaging, noticed a couple times where the Jazz got an offensive rebound and he told them to all clear out to allow for either swinging passes across the perimeter or to create an open lane for driving. Me gusta

My keys to the game:

• Jazz did better than I thought on the road against 1 of the "proclaimed" best in the west, losing by 6, and keeping competitive to the last minute.
• Clippers were making 3's left and right on the Jazz, perimeter defense still needs to improve.
• Jazz rebounded better and also got more free throws than the Clippers, job well done.
• However, Jazz squandered this by missing 5 of those free throws, if my memory serves right they were all in the second half.
• Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. 17 turnovers isn't atrocious, but the Clips only turned it over 10 times, a 7 turnover differential will kill you in games like this.
• My Jazzmen of the game: Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Enes Kanter (on offense), Trevor Booker, Dante Exum.
• Fun times y'all, twas good to see some good Jazz fans representing in the SoCal audience, until next time!