Jazz Slither Past The Clippers in Double OT

Following a depressing loss to their Bay Area Foes in Golden State, the Jazz flew back to Salt Lake City to play the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday Night at home in Energy Solutions Arena. The Clippers had a tough loss of their own in Denver on Friday Night as well, by the score of 111-104. Both teams were eager to get a win. The Clippers got off to a big lead and were up 35-22 at the end of the first quarter and had a 55-39 lead at half time. Things were not going Utah's way. In the second half, the Jazz started making a comeback. Deron Williams started taking charge and got things going in the right direction. Even AK-47 hit a 3. The bench was virtually non-existent for the Jazz, having only 9 points. But The Starting 5 stepped up. Deron Williams had 30 points, AK-47 had 18 points, Al Jefferson had 18 points, Paul Millsap had 25 points, and Raja Bell had 9 points. The Jazz won because they had their starters step up. Key plays in OT and double OT like Al Jefferson hitting an off-balance jump shot, Paul Millsap getting a clutch put back dunk, and Andrei Kirilenko getting mugged underneath the basket for a flagrant one all but had the game put away. Eric Bledsoe, who mugged AK-47 hit two clutch threes for the Clippers to keep the game tied with 16 seconds left in double OT. Deron Williams made a heady play by racing down the court on the inbound to hit a clutch layup with 6 seconds left before the Clipps could get their defense set up. The Clippers failed to design a play at the end to force a 3rd OT or a victory. The Jazz clung to the most dramatic win of this young NBA season by the final score of 109-107. The reason the Jazz won this game was because they had every starter step up. Every starting player had a big moment for them in some way. It was a real team effort. It was a game that was good send off into their east coast road trip coming up this week where they will get the Heat on Tuesday, the Magic on Wednesday, the Hawks on Friday, and the Bobcats on Saturday. Overall, the Jazz really needed this win on Saturday night because they have such a tough schedule coming up. This week will give us a good feel for how tough of a team this Jazz squad really is. I think if the Jazz want to get 2 or more games out of these next 4, they'll need Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to control the Paint, Deron Williams to play big, and get Andrei Kirilenko to play well. Not only that but CJ Miles needs to be productive, and Raja Bell needs to start playing better, because he's been really quiet so far this year. Good luck to the Jazz this week, they're gonna need all the luck they can get! Go Jazz!