NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 keys to Clippers vs. Jazz matchup
By Connor Learn
The matchup between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers in the first round is a meeting between two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum.
The fifth-seeded Jazz are a rising team in the NBA, after winning 51 games and ending a four-year playoff drought. Featuring a young core that has continually improved, they are playoff bound for the what could be the first of many times together. The fourth-seeded Clippers are in year-six of the Chris Paul-Blake Griffin-DeAndre Jordan triumvirate and may break up the team if they don’t advance past the second round again this season.
The biggest reason for the strides that Utah made is that they’ve became an elite defensive team. Anchored by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert and his almost 7-foot-9 wingspan, the Jazz led the league in scoring defense and finished third in defensive efficiency. First time All-Star Gordon Hayward continues to get better and he leads the Jazz offensively. George Hill submitted a career season after being acquired from Indiana and he has helped put them over the top as well.
The Clippers rolled back largely the same squad that they have had during the Doc Rivers era this season. Los Angeles added veterans Marreese Speights and Raymond Felton to solidify their bench and they have been solid acquisitions. Those two don’t move the needle too much, however. But there is real playoff hope for Clippers fans: they have had bad injury luck in the playoffs before and weren’t full go. If those injuries hurt other teams this April, then they have a real chance at a championship.
Both of these teams had 51-31 records this season. Not much set them apart as the season went along, and this series should be competitive and hard fought. What will be the difference in this series and help settle the victor? Here is a look at five that will swing the series:
5. The health of the Utah Jazz
The Jazz became one of the league’s breakout teams this season without having good luck with injuries. First, Gordon Hayward missed the first six games of the season as he recovered from a broken finger. Then starting power forward Derrick Favors missed a month with a knee injury, and has missed 32 games in total. George Hill missed 33 games throughout the season with various ailments as well, including six of the last eight games. Guard Alec Burks didn’t play until after New Year’s. Add in starting shooting guard Rodney Hood missing 23 games, and it becomes even more surprising that Utah won 51 games in the West.
The Jazz will have all of their players at the start of this series. However, they won’t all be at 100 percent. George Hill has been battling a groin injury during the last couple of weeks; he only returned for limited minutes at the end of the season. Hood and Favors have battled nagging knee injuries this season as well. Favors in particular hasn’t been healthy all season, and his scoring has nearly been cut in half from last season. Burks has been a shell of himself once returning from ankle surgery this year too. These four players have received rest as they need it, but getting the best of them is unlikely.
If Utah is able to win this playoff series against the Clippers, they will need contributions across the board. Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert are their best players but they can’t do it alone. Injured players will need to at least capably fill a role despite not being at 100 percent. In addition to the ailments of Burks, Favors, Hill, and Hood, point guards Dante Exum and Raul Neto have battled injuries of late as well. The contributions that the Jazz get from these players is going to be important in this series. What they are or aren’t able to contribute will be one of the biggest factors that swings a close series.