Los Angeles Clippers vs Utah Jazz Box Score on Apr 28, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Apr 29, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY -- Chris Paul scored 29 points while DeAndre Jordan added 13 points and 18 rebounds to help the Los Angeles Clippers stave off elimination with a 98-93 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round series on Friday night.

The series is tied at 3-3, with Game 7 scheduled for Sunday in Los Angeles.

With Los Angeles ahead by three points, Utah's Joe Johnson had a chance to tie it in the closing seconds, but he missed a 3-pointer with about six seconds remaining.

Paul hit a pair of free throws with 1.0 second left to clinch the win.

Luc Mbah a Moute and Austin Rivers scored 13 points apiece and Jamal Crawford added 12 points to lead the Clippers. Los Angeles won a postseason game while Blake Griffin was sidelined with injury for the first time after shooting 37 of 75 (49.3 percent) from the floor.

Gordon Hayward scored 31 points and George Hill added 22 to lead Utah. Rudy Gobert chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds for the Jazz. Utah could not overcome 7-of-26 shooting from 3-point range.

Utah led through much of the first quarter after running off nine straight points -- punctuated by a Hayward dunk -- to stake out a 9-3 lead. The Jazz went up 22-13 behind back-to-back baskets from Hayward and Derrick Favors.

Los Angeles answered with an 11-0 run, fueled by back-to-back baskets from Mbah a Moute. The Clippers finally took a 24-22 lead early in the second quarter on a layup from Marreese Speights.

Utah regained a 36-31 lead later in the second quarter after Gobert sank a pair of free throws to finish off a 6-0 spurt. The Clippers quickly tied it up again on back-to-back baskets from Paul and tied it three more times before taking a 47-45 halftime lead on two free throws from Jordan.

Los Angeles used a 13-2 run to surge ahead 69-61 late in the third quarter. The Clippers took the lead on three Paul free throws, and Crawford drove for back-to-back layups to finish off the run. Paul later drilled a 3-pointer to give Los Angeles its largest lead in the quarter at 74-63.

Once ahead by double digits, the Clippers stayed in front. Utah cut the lead to 80-74 on a second-chance 3-pointer from Raul Neto. Los Angeles squashed a potential run with baskets from Mbah a Moute and Paul and finally carved out a 91-77 lead on a 3-pointer from Rivers with 3:58 left.

Utah didn't go away. The Jazz erased a double-digit lead over the final minute and a half. They cut it to 96-93 with 43.6 seconds remaining after Hayward took a steal in for a dunk and then buried a 3-pointer off a Clippers' turnover.

NOTES: Utah outscored Los Angeles in the paint 26-14 in the first half. ... The Clippers had a 15-8 edge in second-chance points in the first three quarters, but were outscored 8-0 in the fourth. ... Jazz F Gordon Hayward and Jazz G Rodney Hood shot a combined 3 of 15 on 3-pointers. ... Clippers G Austin Rivers shot 50 percent from the field (5 of 10) after going 0 of 4 in Game 5.