Led by Hayward, Utah Jazz moving on to new playoff turf

Utah’s All-Star forward averaged 23.7 points-breaking out for a career-high 40 in Game Three-over seven games to propel the Jazz into the second round of the playoffs with a 104-91 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers last Sunday. George Hill and Derrick Favors added 17 points apiece in Utah’s first postseason victory since 2010.

The Warriors swept Portland 4-0 in their first-round series that ended a week ago.

The Jazz had a 1-2 [win-loss] record against the Warriors this season but have still to face them with their full roster although Ingles admitted beating the Warriors, led by superstars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, would still be a major challenge.

Instead, they will be taking on the Jazz in Round 2, and they are not happy they will have to spend their nights out in Salt Lake City, rather than Los Angeles. “I think if you really want to find something to get into, I don’t care where you are, you can find something to get into”.

To the Lakers’ dismay, Pierce did not have to swallow one of those pills when he helped the Boston Celtics win the 2008 National Basketball Association championship. Gobert finished with one point in 14 minutes. Not great. Just good. Even if the team and its owners are willing to do all that it takes to keep its stars, it will be a very expensive decision to essentially keep a team that could not even make it past the first round of the playoffs.

“We’ve been reading about our obituary for about three months now”, coach Doc Rivers said.

“You can see his confidence out there”, Utah coach Quin Snyder said of Hayward.

The Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan had 24 points and 17 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the series. And Favors was phenomenal: he had 17 points on 8-11 shooting.

The Clippers drew first blood in their best-of-seven series against the Thunder, with Chris Paul going off for eight three-pointers in Game 1 en route to a 32-point, 10-assist performance. Rivers said that the Clippers sometimes tried to lean in to Redick’s struggles, using him as more of a decoy than a scorer.

Hayward fell ill in Game 4 and played just nine minutes in Utah’s win.

On the way to winning their first National Basketball Association title last season, LeBron James and the Cavs took care of the Raptors 4-2 to reach the Finals.

But Golden State literally threw a “Super Villains” party so let’s not act like they don’t know what they’re doing.

There were questions about the Cavaliers coming into their second-round playoff series against the Raptors Monday night. But the Raptors are ready to go. Both players were ruled out for the rest of the postseason, and the Blazers went on to win in six games. “That’s important in the playoffs to have that guy where, when stuff is breaking down, you get him the ball and he can go get a bucket”. Utah preys on opponents that relax or lose focus on defense at the end of a possession.