After picking up a much needed win in a blowout in Game 3, the Clippers entered Game 4 looking to even things up going back to Utah against the Jazz. It didn’t take long for them to take control on Monday night, continuing their dominance over the Jazz, taking a 30-13 first quarter lead and extending that to as many as 28 (50-22) midway through the quarter.
Once again, George and Leonard were the catalysts for the Clippers, attacking downhill and putting on a shot-making clinic early.
Kawhi hangs and banks it in!
Early 26-10 @LAClippers lead on TNT. #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ppGeRgRbZp
— NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2021
PG attacks, scores, plus the foul… the @LAClippers are rolling on TNT! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/13lAZs3mOX
— NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2021
Marcus Morris also got it rolling in the first half, hitting on his first five three-point attempts and scoring 24 points on the night to provide a nice lift as the defense tried to collapse on Leonard and George.
Mook opening up with a pair of triples.
@NBAonTNT | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/GlM3rvIsVj
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 15, 2021
The highlight of the half came courtesy of Leonard, who punched home a massive dunk on Derrick Favors, causing an eruption from the L.A. bench and even managed to stop Joel Embiid in his tracks as he watched during his postgame presser in Atlanta.
KAWHI. OH MY GOODNESS.
pic.twitter.com/PLmbCmtmaY
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 15, 2021
In the third quarter, the Jazz made runs to close the gap to as few as 14 on a few occasions, as Donovan Mitchell put forth, by far, the best effort of any of the Jazz on the offensive end, scoring 30 for the sixth straight game.
6 straight 30+ point games for @spidadmitchell
#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/FgOGaxnubb
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) June 15, 2021
However, Utah just couldn’t consistently get stops on the other end to make things really interesting and continued to run into the resistance of a great L.A. defense, led by Leonard.
Access denied.
pic.twitter.com/xoi0r6Fpd9
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 15, 2021
The Jazz saw the Clippers extend their lead back to 21 going into the fourth quarter, negating almost all of their efforts in the third, punctuated by a buzzer-beating tip-in from Ivica Zubac.
Zu gets it to go before the buzzer! pic.twitter.com/1DaOiTBnRY
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) June 15, 2021
The first half of fourth quarter came and went without a real run from the Jazz, who just couldn’t find consistent offense and had no answers on the defensive end for the Clippers who could get a good look seemingly at will. However, Kawhi bumped knees with Joe Ingles in the mid-fourth and eventually left the game and did not return as Utah steadily closed the gap, getting it to 10 points with two minutes to play. However, Paul George (31 points, nine rebounds, four assists) was doing enough to keep the Jazz at bay without Leonard (31 points and seven rebounds), and then put the game on ice with free throws down the stretch as the Clippers extended their advantage out to 118-104.
For Utah, they can lean on a massively improved performance from the second half as evidence that they are more than capable of hanging with the Clippers and they just have to figure out how to get off to better starts. For L.A., confidence has to be high although there is a bit of concern about Leonard’s knee — he stayed on the bench and didn’t have a wrap on it, which is hopefully a good sign — and their two stars continue to lead the way, scoring 20 points each in the first 11 games of the playoffs, becoming just the third pair of teammates in league history to reach such a mark.
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