Crawford beats buzzer, undermanned Clippers down Jazz
- Updated: April 8, 2016
No Chris Paul. No J.J. Redick. No Blake Griffin. No DeAndre Jordan.
No problems.
Just as they did in Oklahoma City, the reserves showed Clipper fans and Doc Rivers that when they want to are more than capable of holding their own against starting line ups. Only this time, they came away with the W.
Jamal Crawford poured in 30 points including a game winning three pointer with 0.2 seconds left on the clock in overtime while Cole Aldrich did his best Jordan impersonation with 21 points and 18 rebounds as the Clippers won for the eighth time in nine games.
Paul Pierce and Jeff Green added 18 points apiece for L.A. as the loss sent Utah well and truly back into the fight for the eighth seed. A win would’ve seen them go two games clear of Houston with three games to play.
The Clippers started well, leading 17-9 in the first quarter however as expected, Utah made some shots and gained momentum as the half went on. After trailing 52-47 at half time, the Clippers went on a three-point barrage as Pierce went 4-5 and Crawford found his range to lead 68-58 on the back of a 10-0 run.
Gordon Hayward then stepped up for the home side as he hit a three at the buzzer to see the Clippers lead cut to four points after three-quarters.
Alec Burks then turned it on for the home side to begin the fourth quarter and frustrations grew for the Clippers. Technical fouls on Doc Rivers and then Pablo Prigioni displayed this as the Clippers found it hard to score in the first six minutes of the quarter. Although it was Utah who froze up down the stretch as they failed to score field goal for the final 4:10 of the quarter as Jeff Green hit a big three before Cole Aldrich tied the game with an offensive rebound and lay up with 2 seconds on the clock.
Hayward missed the jump shot as the game went to overtime where Green again hit another three (3-7 on the night) to give the Clippers a 99-97 lead. Rodney Hood tied the game with over two minutes remaining then missed a six-foot jumper as the Clippers took a timeout with 23 seconds on the clock.
Jamal Crawford did his dance at the top, they got the switch on Derrick Favors and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Clippers improved to 51-28 for the season, an irrelevant number as they are guaranteed the #4 seed however this game proved to be another confidence boost for the reserves as Rivers looks to fine-tune his rotation in preparation for a likely match up against Portland this time next week.
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