LA Clippers @ Utah Jazz
Friday, October 27, 2023 at 9:30 PM ET
Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT | Game ID: 22300085
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
UTA 33 30 26 31 120LAC 30 24 29 35 118
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Clarkson's late 3 gives Jazz 120-118 win over the Clippers
SALT LAKE CITY -- —
Jordan Clarkson made a big shot to put Utah ahead and then came up with a key defensive stop to help the Jazz get a win.
Clarkson made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 28 seconds left and then forced Kawhi Leonard into a tough missed shot on the other end as the Jazz beat the Los Angeles Clippers 120-118 on Friday night.
“He hit me with a bunch of moves — shot fakes and spins. I was happy I stayed down and didn’t bite for the fakes,” said Clarkson, who has had a reputation as a shooter but seldom draws rave reviews for his defensive prowess.
Before that, Clarkson just wanted to get a shot for himself or Lauri Markkanen in a 2-for-1 possession situation.
“Lauri popped out but couldn’t get a look ... so I just took the shot with confidence and knocked it down,” said Clarkson, who had 13 points.
Markkanen had 35 points and 12 rebounds and Kelly Olynyk added 15 points, including consecutive 3-pointers to make it 111-109 for Utah as it went back-and-forth down the stretch.
“They were good shots and we needed them in that moment,” Olynyk said with a smile since the second 3 was drifting and off-balance.
Paul George scored 36 points and went 15 for 15 from the line while Leonard finished with 25 points in his first appearance on the court here against the Jazz since Game 2 of the 2021 Western Conference semifinals.
The Clippers trailed by 14 in the second quarter before coming back.
“We can’t allow ourselves to fall down like that and have to climb back into a game against a tough team,” George said.
Norman Powell scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Clippers’ comeback.
George gave the Clippers a 118-117 lead with two free throws with 41 seconds remaining before Clarkson dribbled his way into a tough 3 from the right angle in front of the Jazz bench.
Leonard missed a 3 with Clarkson draped on him and then Russell Westbrook missed a rebound try from 18 feet at the buzzer.
“It was a really, really gritty win for our team. We are far from where we want to be … but if we play that hard every night, we’re going to be tough,” Utah coach Will Hardy said.
The Clippers have lost 12 straight regular season games in Utah with their last win coming on Feb. 13, 2017.
“I thought their movement all night long kind of hurt us … and then we went small which helped our defense. But then offensive rebounds really hurt us with 33 second-chance points,” Los Angeles coach Ty Lue said of Utah’s 17 offensive rebounds.
The Clippers took their first lead of the game on Nicolas Batum’s 3, which capped a 17-4 surge and made it 104-101 with 5:49 to play.
George scored 15 points in the third quarter to help the Clippers pull to 89-83 entering the fourth.
“It was purely a mindset. Try to get to the paint, make a play at the rim,” George said.
The Jazz made their first five 3s of the second quarter to fuel a 15-4 run. Talen Horton-Tucker’s 3 gave Utah its biggest lead of the game at 50-36.
After making just nine 3s in season-opening blowout loss to Sacramento, the Jazz were 16 for 41 against the Clippers for their first win of the season.
“It feels great. Now the nightmares of 0-for-82 are over,” Markkanen said. “It was a really big win for us.”
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
UTACS C. Sexton
JC J. Clarkson
JC J. Collins
KD K. Dunn
KG K. George
KO K. Olynyk
LM L. Markkanen
OA O. Agbaji
TH T. Horton-Tucker
WK W. Kessler
LACBH B. Hyland
IZ I. Zubac
KL K. Leonard
MP M. Plumlee
NB N. Batum
NP N. Powell
PG P. George
RC R. Covington
RW R. Westbrook
UTA/LAC the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur