Paul scores 29, Clippers beat Jazz 98-93 to force Game 7

The Utah Jazz, led by Gordon Hayward held a sizable lead throughout the entire game over the Los Angeles Clippers, beating them 104-91.

Whoever wins won’t have any rest.

Mills and his San Antonio Spurs begin their second round series with fellow Texans the Houston Rockets in San Antonio on Tuesday at 11.30am (AEST). You can use the excuse of Blake Griffin’s injury, but that’s the thing with the Clippers. When you put that with the talent and the will, that’s why he has performances like this in big games. The 39-year-old forward had six points and three rebounds in 21 minutes for the Clippers.

“Late, when we did start scoring, we couldn’t get stops”, Paul said.

Paul Pierce gets a handshake from Alan Anderson, left, and a pat on the back from Wesley Johnson near the end of his final game Sunday.

“I wanted to give up and quit and never in my life have I thought about quitting”, Thomas said.

He was referring to Paul’s injuries at the beginning of that 2015 Houston series, and Paul and Griffin both leaving last year’s Portland series in Game 3, and then Griffin’s toe injury in this series, which accompanied A. Rivers’ hamstring problems.

Without Griffin, Paul has been forced into doing the majority of the ball handling, and he appeared exhausted near the end of the Clippers’ loss in Game 5.

“Not having Blake is a major wound when you talk about your best scorer, your second-best rebounder, your second-best passer”, Doc Rivers said.

“That helped a lot”, Paul said. Utah beat the Clippers three out of four games in Staples Center this series (and Los Angeles picked up one in Utah). It’s been so close that the teams are averaging 98 points each.

Griffin missed 18 games during the regular season because of right knee surgery.

“I sprained it on somebody’s foot”, said Gobert, who finished with 15 points, nine boards and three blocks, according to the Tribune.

With scores tied at 24 at the end of the first quarter, the Jazz rallied to dominate the next two before closing out the 13-point win. We can call him a missile by Clippers for betting Jazz. But I don’t think that’s the aspiration here, so the question becomes: “Can our group get over the hump?”

The Jazz used a third-quarter spurt to grab a double-digit lead and retained it for nearly the rest of the game. You know how they use the slogan, ‘Win or go home.’ It’s really win or go home.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Johnson. Game 2 between Golden State and Utah is Thursday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., before the series shifts to Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and May 8.

Speaking of forgettable games, JJ Redick was once more invisible (at best), scoring 3 points on 1-5 shooting. Iso Joe may not be done yet.