After another dominant performance in Game 4, the Los Angeles Clippers are now all knotted up with the Utah Jazz heading into Game 5 back in Utah. With the Clippers setting a certain trend in this year's postseason and the Jazz looking all out of sorts during the past two games, it's starting to look more and more like this will be a seven-game series. With this in mind, let's take a deep dive into three bold predictions for Clippers-Jazz Game 5.
1. Jazz will be much more efficient on offense
After a horrid showing on offense in Game 4, the Jazz will need to be much more effective shooting the ball. Despite Donovan Mitchell putting up 37 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, the Jazz were just not in sync on offense and looked all out of sorts from the start. Now with them having home-court advantage once again for Game 5, you can definitely expect there to be a more explosive and effective showing from the No. 1 seed in the Western conference.
With the speed, scoring, and passing that this squad possesses, there's no doubt that they'll be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate. As one of the league leaders in 3-point shooting, the Clippers should definitely not expect a repeat of Game 4 with the Jazz missing countless open jumpers. Come Wednesday night, you definitely can expect to see a more aggressive and fluid offensive game from Utah.
2. Jazz will rev up their defensive tenacity
Aside from the Jazz having shooting woes all night long, the Clippers were having their way with them the entire game and completely took them out of their element defensively. With the next game heading back to Utah, the Clippers should not expect Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Derrick Favors, or Royce O'Neale to have quiet games on the defensive end.
As a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert will be back to disrupting the passing lanes, blocking shots and denying finishes at the rim as previously seen in this series, and it can be expected that Mitchell, Ingles, O'Neale, and Favors will follow suit closely. With a deep roster of lockdown and versatile defenders, the Jazz will definitely be stepping up their defensive intensity and look to regain their edge in this series over the feisty Clippers.
3. Clippers will pull off a third straight win
After falling short of a road upset in the first two games of this series, the Clippers have found new life after taking Games 3 and 4 in completely dominant fashion and tying up the series. Having said this, the one thing that is certain is that these Clippers are for real and are not the same team that they were a year ago.
With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George coming up big for them, the Clippers now have powered through and are two wins away from their first conference finals appearance in franchise history. If Leonard and George continue to come through for them while Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, and Luke Kennard keep up their stellar play on both ends, the Clippers will be able to take Game 5 by storm and showcase their dominance once again in this series, no matter how well the Jazz play.
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