KAWHI LEONARD AND Paul George combined for 65 points as the Los Angeles Clippers showed they still have some fight left, beating the Utah Jazz 132-106 in game three of their NBA playoff series.
Leonard finished with 34 points and 12 assists and George had 31 for the Clippers, who had little room for error heading into Saturday’s game in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 8,000 at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
“I need my two best players to be able to do that,” said Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue. “They set the table for everyone else.”
The Clippers put themselves in deep peril by losing the first two games of the Western Conference second-round series and they are not out of trouble yet as the Jazz are the top-seeded team after finishing the regular season with 52 wins. Game four is on Monday at Staples Center.
The fourth-seeded Clippers closed out the game with a 26-11 surge. George said he was in the right mindset all game long.
“I got to the shots I am most comfortable with and I stuck with it,” George said. “It is all about putting pressure on their defence and staying with an attack mentality all game.”
Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum added 17 points each for the Clippers in the win. The Jazz were playing without guard Mike Conley, who sat out his third straight game with a sore hamstring.
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points but missed the final seven minutes after turning his right ankle. Mitchell came out of the game halfway through the fourth quarter after appearing to reinjure the ankle. He asked to re-enter the game late in the fourth but was denied by Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who kept his star on the bench with the Clippers running away with it.
The 24-year-old Mitchell was averaging 41 points heading into game three after scoring 37 in game two and 45 points in game one. He became the first Jazz player to score at least 35 points in back-to-back playoff games since Karl Malone accomplished the feat three straight times during the 1988 playoffs.
Mitchell said he expects to be ready to go in the next game: “I am good. I wanted to go back in but no need to risk it as we were down 16 or 18 at that point. I will be fine.”
Joe Ingles scored 19 points for the Jazz. Jordan Clarkson added 14 points, Rudy Gobert contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Royce O’Neale scored 12 points.
Utah trailed 106-95 after a three by Clarkson with 7:18 left. Mitchell left the game and the Clippers smelled blood, scoring 10 straight points, with Leonard and Batum draining consecutive threes to make it 116-95 with 5:22 remaining.
“They lit a fire under us. We had to protect home court,” George said.
Donald love sounds like a Brazilian superstar you sign in championship manager.
Same name as the media mogul in GTA III.
The fact this is considered a ‘strong’ United team says it all really
Lol Terrible and now De Gea and Rooney are injured. Arsenal will hammer them on the 27th
Doubt it probably bottle it Sean like the Chelsea game
Who will arsenal be hammering on the 27th? United game isn’t until the 28th.
Great cross. Great header. Great save.
Shocking defending
Beaten twice on each near post. Shouldn’t happen to a Man utd goalie
Unsighted both times
First one took a deflection to be fair and it wasn’t a complete gaffe for the second either. He was the only United player worth a wage in that game.