Sunday night match-up was downright ugly, the fact that the Clippers were able to win this game in spite of a pretty mediocre overall effort bode well for their chances of racking up plenty of regular-season wins. Especially when that win comes on a 39.4% from the field, 21.9% from 3 shooting night. However if not for Kawhi Leonard’s late-game heroics and Utah’s unable to take advantage of the Clippers stagnant offense in the first half we may be looking a different outlook.

Looking to get some revenge from a loss to the Jazz in the first week of the season, LA needed every bit of Kawhi’s 25 in the second half to secure this comeback victory. Most surprising was that Montrezl Harrell was able to out-hustle Rudy Gobert for 6 offensive rebounds his energy on the offensive glass was ultimately the deciding factor in the game. Leading to several second-chance points in the fourth quarter.

Photo Credit: Clippers Digital

Harrell contributed a solid 9 points and 8 boards combined with Lou Williams and JaMychal Green to score 48 points off the bench.

Donovan Mitchell seemed to be the only Jazz player to show up, his aggressive exploits got him 36 points keeping the Jazz in the game. The acquisition of Mike Conley has yet to bear any fruit for the Jazz as he struggled against Patrick Beverley and friends, contributing just 8 points on 2 of 10 shooting from the floor in 35 ineffective minutes.

Photo Credit: Clippers Digital

This awful game shad some light on a few things for me 1) The Clippers can’t let Kawhi take in games off for load management this early in the season, 2) The Clippers need Paul George to return as soon as possible for the night Kawhi can’t go, and 3) The Jazz can only make it so far without Mike Conley play like an All-Star, if his game doesn’t show up soon the Jazz may be on the outside looking in around playoff time.

The Clippers’ next challenge will on Wednesday when Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks come to town.