Jazz and Clippers take series to the limit
The opening round of the NBA playoffs is down to the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, the only series to be extended to seven games.
The Clippers can finish off the Jazz on Sunday and advance to the Western Conference semifinals against Golden State, which has been waiting since Wednesday to find out its next opponent.
Whoever wins won’t have any rest. The Warriors play host to the series opener on Tuesday.
Now in his 12th season, nine-time Clippers all-star Chris Paul has yet to play in a conference finals.
“He is as competitive of a human being that I’ve ever been around,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “When you put that with the talent and will, that’s why he has performances like this in big games.”
Paul had 28 points, eight assists, three rebounds and four turnovers playing 38 minutes in a 98-93 win on Friday. During a timeout, he looked over at 39-year-old teammate Paul Pierce, who plans to retire at the end of the season.
“I said, ‘You’re not ending your career in Utah,’” Paul said.
With Paul doing the heavy lifting, Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute and Austin Rivers combined to score 38 points while making up for the loss of Blake Griffin, who is out for the rest of the season with a big-toe injury.
Without Griffin, Paul has been forced into doing the majority of the ball handling. He appeared tired near the end of the Clippers’ loss in Game 5. Doc Rivers changed things up in Game 6 and surrounded Paul with fellow guards Crawford, Austin Rivers and Raymond Felton. “That helped a lot,” Paul said. The Clippers can draw on past experience heading into Game 7.
Two years ago, they won an elimination game in San Antonio and came home to win Game 7 by two points in the first round. In 2014, they beat the Warriors in a Game 7 at home in the first round.
The young Jazz isn’t as playoff-tested, which is why they brought in veterans Joe Johnson, Boris Diaw and George Hill to surround Gordon Hayward and Joe Ingles.
“We know what they’re going to run and they know what we’re going to run,” Hayward said. “It’s about execution. It’s about who wants it more, so we’ve got to be the team that wants it more.”