Clippers, Jazz ready to finish tight opening series
Teams have both averaged 98 points in first six games
LOS ANGELES — 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 today 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 will host the series opener Tuesday.
Now in his 12th season, nine-time Clippers All-Star Chris Paul has yet to play in a conference final.
“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 Friday.
“Doc said go out there and give yourself a chance,” Paul said.
During a timeout, he looked at 39-yearold teammate Paul Pierce, who plans to retire at the end of the season, his 19th.
“I said, ‘You’re not ending your career in Utah,’” Paul said. “We just said we’re going to keep this thing going for him.”
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 bigtoe injury.
Without Griffin, Paul has been forced into doing the majority of the ball handling, and 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 first six games between the fourthseeded Clippers and No. 5 Utah have been decided by eight points or less. It’s been so close that the teams are averaging 98 points each. They had 51-31 records in the regular season.
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.
The young Jazz isn’t as playoff-tested, which is why it 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.”
WARRIORS: Golden State hopes to get reserves Shaun Livingston and Matt Barnes back from injuries for the second round of the playoffs after getting more than a week off between series.
The Warriors said Saturday that Barnes has been upgraded to probable for Tuesday night’s Game 1 and Livingston remains questionable.
There is no update on the status of coach Steve Kerr, who missed the final two games of the first round against Portland because of complications from two back surgeries.