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Clippers Fall As Jazz Fight Back To Win Game 4

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The Los Angeles Clippers were after the 3-1 series lead against the Utah Jazz Sunday night in Salt Lake City.

Undoubtedly that goal was made more difficult with the news after game 3 that Blake Griffin will be out for the remainder of the NBA Playoffs with a toe injury. As far as injuries on Utah’s side, it’s safe to say this one was a bit bitter-sweet. After finding out Center Rudy Gobert would be returning for the first time since game 1, the team was struck with the news that Forward Gordon Hayward was battling with food poisoning.

Hayward scored 40 points in game 3, but in game 4 he scored just 3 in only 9 minutes of play.

It was then up to Los Angeles to take advantage of the absence of one of Utah’s star players. Jamal Crawford did just that. Using his skills out on the wing to free himself up for some shots Crawford scored a crucial 25 off the bench. After going 0-11 from beyond the arc to start the series he was a terrific 5-7 in this game.

Crawford wasn’t the only Clippers player to step up in this one. Chris Paul has had a tremendous series thus far and this game may have been his best performance. Without Griffin, Paul took over this game in all facets. Paul ended his night notching 27 points to go along with 12 assists and 9 rebounds.

While Paul has been making hitting double-digits assists look routine so far this series, what he did on the boards arguably meant more to his team Sunday due to the absence of Griffin.

Seemingly whenever the Clippers started to pull away, the Jazz got one right back. This allowed them to stay in the game and in the fourth quarter they got a huge performance from who else but Joe Johnson.

Johnson finished this game leading all scorers with 28 points off the bench. The late run by Johnson sparked a shooting revolution from the Jazz as they ended the fourth shooting over 70% for the quarter from the field.

That late spark would be enough for the Jazz to inch past the Clippers and come out with an important 105-98 win at home.

A rough loss for Los Angeles who had the lead for the majority of this game and just couldn’t hold on down the stretch.

The series returns to Staples Center Tuesday and the Clippers will need the victory at home.

Thanks for reading along Clipper Nation. Here’s to turning things around back in Los Angeles.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Clippers and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!

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