The Clippers don’t have what the Jazz have — but they know that’s not important right now

SALT LAKE CITY — The last time the LA Clippers were in the Mountain Time Zone on a Wednesday to face the Utah Jazz in the middle of a month, the stakes were much higher.

Back in June, Kawhi Leonard flew back to Los Angeles, his right ACL later revealed to be partially torn. The Clippers tied the Western Conference semifinals at 2-2 and had to play a Game 5 short-handed. Then the Clippers won that Game 5 in Utah, as well as the series-clincher two nights later in California, earning the franchise’s first conference finals berth.

Paul George was vindicated. Tyronn Lue was validated. Terance Mann was venerated. Flash forward six months later to December, and some may have expected the Clippers to return to Utah and provide a reminder of who they are and what they did to the Jazz.

The reminder the Clippers provided was not of the June postseason series, but the February miniseries. Remember that first game? The Clippers had a four-game win streak while the Jazz had an eight-game win streak. But the Clippers held out Leonard, George and Nicolas Batum due to various injuries. They actually hung around for the first three quarters before getting totaled in the fourth, losing 114-96. Two nights later, the Clippers would bring back Leonard, George and Batum to get their only regular-season win over the Jazz.

On Wednesday, Leonard, George and Batum made the trip to Utah. Obviously, Leonard is out indefinitely due to right knee surgery, but it is still a notable sight to see him with the team away from California. George, nursing a right elbow sprain obtained from carrying the team in Leonard’s stead, would miss his fourth straight game despite being upgraded from doubtful to questionable between games. Batum, recently recovered from a bout with health and safety protocols, sat out again to rest a sprained right ankle.

The Jazz, meanwhile, are as healthy as a rotation can be in December. They won their seventh consecutive game Saturday night in the nation’s capital, giving them three days of rest entering their #RevengeGame against the Clippers. Utah has established itself as the best offense in the NBA, and it’s not even close.

On Wednesday night, Luke Kennard got off to a great start for the Clippers, scoring all 10 of his points in the first quarter to extend a career-long streak of double-digit scoring games to eight. Marcus Morris Sr. got off to a great start as well and finished with a season-high 24 points for the second straight game. Reggie Jackson, on a minutes restriction, had a season-high nine assists. Jackson’s backup, Eric Bledsoe, had 21 points, five rebounds and eight assists while adding a steal and four 3s; Bledsoe hadn’t matched those numbers since February 2019. Backup center Isaiah Hartenstein scored a season-high 15 points, the last of which came following an and-1 dunk that cut a 17-point third-quarter Utah lead to 100-93 with 8:32 left.

But the Clippers would tie a season-high for points allowed and set a new low for margin of defeat, losing 124-103. Rudy Gobert scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half, while Donovan Mitchell scored 19 of his game-high 27 after halftime.

The Clippers weren’t going to just punt a game. After all, they had won four straight games. But Lue isn’t about to show postseason cards in the regular season. Not that he can do that anyway.

“We play how we play during the regular season,” Lue said prior to Wednesday night’s game in Utah. “And then we get to the fourth quarter, if we got to do some things differently, we will do that. But you know, playing small with Kawhi, Marcus, PG and Nico is different than playing small with Terance Mann, Reggie Jackson, Eric Bledsoe. So it’s just totally different, because when we play small, we’re super small. And we’re not ready to play that way, especially with PG and Nico and Kawhi being out like that.”

You didn’t see an extended stretch of small ball Wednesday; before a 21-6 fourth-quarter run by the Jazz that effectively ended the game, Ivica Zubac and Hartenstein had played all but 52 seconds of the center minutes. Lue practically announced that he wasn’t going to use the tactic that allowed the Clippers to relentlessly attack Utah’s Gobert-anchored defense in the postseason.

Lue was happy about the team’s defense after bottoming out with 124 points allowed to the Sacramento Kings to start the month. Naturally, Mitchell would make every single shot he took inside the arc Wednesday, with half of them coming against Mann. Lue would take the blame for the ineffective strategy, saying “probably me” when asked what allowed Mitchell to get hot.

“Didn’t blitz him soon enough, he’d already got a rhythm,” Lue said of Mitchell. “I thought with their shooters, if we could just play two-on-two like we did in the first half, we’d be fine. But he’s a great player. He took over the game, and I should have put the blitz on him a little sooner, but that’s what he does. He played well and brought them home.”

Perhaps the most telling item of perspective came from Morris, who has repeatedly praised the Jazz this week for being a veteran team that has been together for years. Even with the Clippers struggling to find easy shots after halftime, Morris suggested the Clippers aren’t concerned about Gobert’s Jazz.

“Yeah, they’re still the same team,” Morris said of the Jazz. “Ain’t nothing changed. (Gobert) protects all of them. None of them really can defend. Just funnel it to him, and it’s tough to — he’s a great player, and he does a great job of, you know, anticipation, staying down, being real solid. So, you know who they are.”

Who the Jazz are is a great regular-season team trying to get to where the Clippers were. The Clippers may be searching for an identity with inconsistent personnel availabilities. But beating this Jazz team in June has allowed the Clippers to believe in what they’re capable of when the stakes are higher.

Now, the Clippers need to get there. They need to improve in transition. They have to take better care of the ball and know what to do when they force turnovers; the Jazz outscored the Clippers 18-2 off turnovers, the fewest points off turnovers in a game by far for the Clippers this season. After being the NBA’s best team at defending without fouling before Thanksgiving, the Clippers rank 19th in that category since Thanksgiving.

But those issues don’t get fixed by playing veterans when they’re at half-strength. The Clippers have four months of regular-season action left. Yes, they showed in the postseason they can find the right lineups and make the necessary adjustments. But the Clippers also showed last regular season that they’re willing to let their healthy players play and save the exotic strategy for the long run. That philosophy is as much a part of their identity as anything we will see from this team at this point of the season.

“Regular season is tough to make adjustments and do different things on the fly,” Lue said. “(The Jazz) have been No. 1 in the West for the last couple of years, now they’re the No. 1 offensive team in the league in a lot of statistical categories. They play well. If you don’t have time to adjust and understand how they play and what they’re doing, they’re going to play well. We understood that. They’re a tough team to play, especially in this building.”

The Clippers don’t have what the Jazz have — but they know that’s not important right now

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