Jazz Escape with Game 1 Win vs. Clippers Despite Rudy Gobert Injury
On the road and without arguably their best player, the Utah Jazz defied the odds and defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 97-95 in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Saturday night at Staples Center thanks to a game-winning runner from Joe Johnson as time expired.
Although center Rudy Gobert was ruled out with a left knee sprain after he crumbled to the hardwood 11 seconds into the first quarter, the Jazz refused to back down in the face of adversity.
Instead, they stood tall and took the fight to a Clippers team that saw Chris Paul put on a spectacular show in the fourth quarter as he nearly single-handedly willed his side to victory. In fact, Paul drilled a game-tying shot with 13 seconds remaining to momentarily stun the Jazz.
| Joe Johnson | 21 | 9/14 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | +6 |
| Gordon Hayward | 19 | 7/18 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | +8 |
| George Hill | 16 | 7/13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| Derrick Favors | 15 | 7/10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
But ultimately, a balanced performance led by Johnson's veteran savvy ruled the day.
While Gordon Hayward double-doubled and generally set the tone for the Jazz, it was Johnson who played hero with 21 points on a tidy 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-4 from three) in 31 minutes off the bench.
Johnson was particularly efficient with 14 points in the first half, but his biggest buckets came in crunch time.
His last was the biggest, but a running right-handed floater with 69 seconds remaining that put the Jazz up five also helped keep the Clippers at arm's length, as the team's official Twitter account documented:
According to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon, season-long trends suggest Saturday may have just been the start of a big series for the seven-time All-Star:
Beyond Johnson, the Jazz impressed with their ball movement.
The floor was spaced for shooters all night, and Utah converted 42.1 percent of its three-point attempts as the ball moved around the perimeter in crisp fashion, as FiveThirtyEight's Chris Herring observed:
The win was also a referendum on head coach Quin Snyder—who churned out wins all season even though his roster was littered with injured players, as The Ringer's John Gonzalez and Kevin O'Connor explained:
The Clippers, meanwhile, leaned on Paul and Blake Griffin to shoulder the load on a night when their offense did not flow with consistent vigor.
| Chris Paul | 25 | 10/19 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Blake Griffin | 26 | 9/21 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | -7 |
| DeAndre Jordan | 10 | 4/7 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -1 |
However, Paul and Griffin couldn't do it alone.
Even though both studs topped 25 points, the Clippers shot 33.3 percent from three as a team and received 20 points combined from all of their bench scorers. Or in other terms, one point fewer than the total Johnson posted off the pine for Utah.
Moving forward, the Clippers will need far more out of JJ Redick (seven points) and Jamal Crawford (eight points) if they want to solve Utah's stingy defense on a regular basis.
With Game 1 in the books, the Clippers and Jazz will pivot toward Game 2—which is scheduled for Tuesday evening at Staples Center (10:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
Until then, Gobert's status will be tracked closely after he was sent for an MRI in the second half of Game 1, according to the team's official Twitter account.
And with the Clippers now headed back to the drawing board in anticipation of attacking a defense that could be without its fulcrum, head coach Doc Rivers figures to hone in on the middle of the floor and identify ways to exploit the Stifle Tower's absence.
The same will hold true for Snyder, who should continue to tinker with modified alignments that allow the Jazz to remain competitive even with Gobert banged up.
For more news, rumors and related stories about the Utah Jazz and the NBA, check out the NBA and Jazz streams on Bleacher Report's app.
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