The first-round playoff series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Utah Jazz continued on Tuesday night as they met at Staples Center for Game 5. Coming into Tuesday's matchup the series was tied at two wins apiece. When a series is tied 2-2 in NBA history, the road winner of Game 5 has won the series 63.8 percent of the time. Knowing this, it was a big game for both sides. It was a sell-out crowd at Staples Center with 19,000 Clipper fans, led by the owner of the team -- Steve Ballmer. The Clippers were short-handed in this game as they played without their star power forward Blake Griffin.
Griffin is out for the remainder of this season with an injured right toe.
Exciting finish in Game 5
Tuesday's game was in a "back-and-forth" mode from the beginning. The Clippers opened up the game with a 7-0 start, and the Jazz responded quickly with an 8-0 run of their own. Los Angeles closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run and won the opening 12 minutes of the game 21-19. The teams continued to trade baskets and change leads in the second quarter. At halftime the score was 46-43 for the away team. It was a low scoring third quarter, as neither team managed to pull away. The Jazz outscored the Clippers 18-15 in that third period and took a 64-58 lead into the fourth quarter. The Clippers rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the fourth to tie the game at 69-69, but they never managed to regain the lead.
The Jazz made five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including three by Rodney Hood and won the game 96-92. Utah had a big rebounding advantage in this one (43-34) and finished the game with 25 assists. They held LA to just 42% shooting and forced them into 14 turnovers.
Balanced scoring for the Jazz
Six players finished in double-digit scoring for Utah on Tuesday night.
Gordon Hayward returned after missing most of Game 4 because of food poisoning and ended up with 27 points. Hayward added eight rebounds and four assists. George Hill scored 12 points and dished out seven assists, while Joe Johnson was great off the bench again with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Chris Paul led the way for Clippers with 28 points.
Paul added nine assists and four rebounds as he fell one assist shy of his fifth straight NBA playoff game with at least 20 points and 10 dimes. His backcourt partner J.J. Redick played his best game of the series so far. Redick scored 26 points on 7-for-12 shooting while DeAndre Jordan contributed with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Utah now holds a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 to be played on Friday at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.
