Utah’s Rudy Gobert has hyperextended left knee, bone bruise

Joe Ingles executed by bringing himself to the ball and forcing the Clippers into a switch.

Although this is Utah’s first playoff appearance since the names Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer rang through the Vivint Smart Home Arena, they are reaching sort of a crossroads with their core as well. Favors, a “4-point-5” as the Jazz staff is fond of calling him, lives closer to the ground than Gobert but provided strong interior help. You make your adjustments.

10 players hit the hardwood for the Jazz on Saturday night, including the Stifle Tower, who played a measly 17 seconds. Surely Gobert is an important player, but he doesn’t make or break the Jazz’s chances.

Of course, the internet doesn’t waste time on things like this and memes were being thrown out nearly immediately after the comment. “But I thought he was a difference-maker”.

Joe Johnson was magnificent all game. “We have to play better than we did as far as in our execution, in our defensive execution and our offensive pace”. Blake dominated the first half with 22 points.

The Jazz were dealt a blow before either team had settled into the game.

Monday will be more of a day for preparing their game plan.

Jackson said Friday that the Knicks haven’t been able to win with Anthony and that maybe the All-Star forward would be “better off somewhere else”.

Still, the team will not want to be without him for long. He also had 10 rebounds. The Jazz were not crushed on the glass without Rudy. And that’s without even considering possible new contracts for Derrick Favors and Rodney Hood, whose contracts are both up in 2018. This gives the team some leeway to keep their star big man out with a game advantage in hand. Their bench offered 20 points from the combined forces of Speights, Felton, and Crawford. However, Utah’s ingrained ability to roll with the punches proved to be the pivotal factor in Game 1, an attribute that was tested on the first play of the series. Crawford has been a poor shooter in the playoffs for four straight years. After flaming out in each of the past three playoffs in heartbreaking fashion, the Clippers find themselves facing the prospect of going back to a raucous Salt Lake City trailing by two games if they can’t find a way to win Game 2 on Tuesday.

The Clippers now have a tough job on their hands if they are to turn this series around as Utah is a hard place to win and they ended the regular season with the third-best defence. Plus, Hayward didn’t get rolling.

Five years ago, the Jazz lost Games 1 and 2 by a combined 46 points at San Antonio, where coach Tyrone Corbin and his team were overwhelmed by Gregg Popovich and the No. 1-seeded Spurs and eventually were swept.

The Jazz maintained a slow pace of 92.5 possessions.

The Jazz did not match up against the Clippers well in terms of talent. The lineup that played for much of the first half hardly saw any shared court time during the season.

The Clippers got a good night from CP3, Blake and DeAndre.