NO SECOND WIND
Jazz’s Mitchell scores 45 and Clippers fade in second half, losing Game 1 at Utah
SALT LAKE CITY » That’s a point for the more-rested team in the old rust vs. rest playoff debate.
Fueled by 45 points from Donovan Mitchell, and punctuated by a last-second swat by Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz held on to beat the Clippers 112109 in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Tuesday at Vivint Arena.
The fourth-seeded Clippers — playing for what they hope will be the first conference finals berth in the franchise’s 51 years — surfed into the series in Utah riding high on the mo- mentum from a first-round Game 7 victory against Dallas two days earlier.
They even turned again to some of Sunday’s heroes to help out big early — and to keep them close down the stretch while Kawhi Leon- ard (9 for 19 for 23 points) and Paul George (4 for 17 for 20 points) struggled to find a rhythm offensively.
The top-seeded Jazz, meanwhile, needed a minute — or a half — to get up, looking like the team that had six days to chill and go miss-20-shots-in-a-row cold.
But then Mitchell, Utah’s two-time All-Star guard — who was 5 for 14 for 13 points in the first half — came out of halftime and put his foot down, put his team on his back and led an invigorating charge back from what was a 13-point Clipper lead at halftime.
In front of an appreciative, engaged sellout crowd of 18,007, Mitchell scored the Jazz’s first 10 points in the third period, finishing with 16 points in the quarter. Utah outscored the Clippers 32-19 in the period to pull even and change the complexion of the game, which was tied 79-79 going into the final frame.
The Clippers, fighting fatigue perhaps, started to hit the front of the rim more often, off the mark but still, they fought to keep it close — even after a 10-2 Utah run midway through the fourth quarter gave the Jazz their first double-digit lead, 103-93.
After Marcus Morris Sr. (nine points) missed one of his nine 3-point attempts, got his own rebound and made his next — and only — look from deep. Leonard battled Gobert at the rim, ripping down consecutive rebounds before finally getting a layup to fall, cutting the Jazz’s lead to 105-100.
But Mitchell wouldn’t be denied. After both of those Clippers’ buckets, he responded with baskets of his own — and followed that pair by spinning past Leonard for a scoop shot that drew a foul on Kennard.
After George swished two free throws — while being serenaded by chants of “over-rated” — to make it 110-104, Mitchell had an answer, of course, getting Leonard and Luke Kennard to switch and blowing right past Kennard for the layup that made it 112-104 with 1:10 left.
Still, the Clippers wouldn’t go away. George hit a 3-pointer to make it 112-109, Mitchell missed a jumper and Rajon Rondo got the rebound.
Rondo gave the ball to Leonard, who handed it off to George, who gave it back to Leonard — none of them able to get a good look at a 3-pointer. Leonard passed to Morris in the corner and he took a dribble to try to free himself from Gobert’s presence — it didn’t work. Morris hoisted a shot with a second left, and Gobert met it with a victory-securing rejection.
Utah got the victory without starting guard Mike Conley, who missed the game with a mild hamstring strain.
The Clippers led 60-47 at halftime — despite getting only 12 points from Leonard and George, who shot 3 for 13 between them.
Lue leaned on his supporting cast to start the series, including Luke Kennard (who scored 11 of his 18 points in the first half), Reggie Jackson (who scored all nine of his points before the break) ... and DeMarcus Cousins?!
Cousins didn’t see the court in the Clippers’ sevengame first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, but he was surprise participant 10 minutes into the second quarter Tuesday, checking in for Paul George.
In the next four minutes, he left a Boogie-washere imprint on the game, hassling Gobert and scoring six points, grabbing three rebounds and drawing three fouls and picking up a block.
Utah helped the Clippers out with a statistically noteworthy first-quarter shooting slump. Rusty perhaps after not having played in six days, Utah had a 10-2 lead with 9:24 to play before missing its next 20 consecutive shots form the field, more in a row than any other team in the past 25 playoffs except the 2001 Sacramento Kings, who missed 22 consecutive attempts.
Mitchell opened the second half by scoring 10 consecutive points for his team to cut into the Clippers 6257.
After a bucket by Royce O’Neale made 62-59, Leonard began to assert himself; his 9-foot stepback and a driving layup on Gobert pushed the Clippers advantage to 66-59.
The Clippers saw what had been a 14-point lead disappear when Mitchell fed O’Neale for a transition layup that made it 7271, Jazz, with 3:06 to play in the third quarter.