The Utah Jazz (1-1) and Los Angeles Clippers (1-1) are both having mercurial campaigns so far in the 2016-2017 NBA Preseason Games. They meet each other at the Staples Center on Oct. 10, Monday to try and add to their lone wins.
Start Time and Streaming Info
The game starts at 10:30 p.m. ET. It can be viewed live online thru the NBA League Pass.
Preview
Utah dropped their preseason-opener to the Portland Trail Blazers, 98-89, on Oct. 3 on the road. They then bounced back with a 104-99 win over the Phoenix Suns two days later to earn their first win.
The Jazz will be undermanned in this match against the Clippers as main man Gordon Hayward suffered a fractured finger during their practice on Friday. The finger was injured when it got caught in a teammate's jersey during a scrimmage.
Hayward is expected to be out for four to six weeks and until he comes back, head coach Quin Snyder will have to come up with a contingency plan to somehow ease the absence.
However, Hayward is not the only Jazz player injured at the moment, with Derrick Favors still nursing his knee while Alex Burks has yet to return from a knee operation last spring.
The main men for Utah at the moment will be center Rudy Gobert and point guard George Hill. Fortunately for the Jazz, both players had been playing well in their first two games, but Snyder should be wise enough to make them stay away from injury as much as possible.
Meanwhile, the Clippers have also split their first two games, dropping an embarrassing 120-75 game to the Golden State Warriors to open their preseason stint before redeeming themselves with a 104-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors in their second game on Oct. 5.
The Big Three of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan remained as starters in the first two games for head coach Doc Rivers, but he fielded in Raymond Felton and Austin Rivers in place of JJ Redick and Luc Mbah a Moute in the game versus the Raptors.
The three-guard lineup experiment was effective during the match as the Clips started the game strongly, building a huge lead right from the get-go until they slowed down in the final period.
Prediction
A second win for the Clippers. Rivers will continue to experiment with his lineup in preparation for the upcoming season.
