Utah Jazz elevate their play to soar past Clippers

SALT LAKE CITY — After their high-flying performance Tuesday night, the NBA team in town might consider adding some new slogans to their marketing campaign.

Utah Jazz. Life Elevated.

Salt Lob City.

Overlooked Jazz: We Fly Above The Radar.

However you brand it, the Jazz took their play to a whole new level — one that on this exciting night was even above Blake Griffin — during their wildly entertaining 108-79 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Fun was the word of the night — from the dunking and dominating show the Jazz put on for the 19,371 fans at EnergySolutions Arena to postgame comments from coach Tyrone Corbin and the players in the lively locker room.

"I enjoyed watching the guys have fun do what they do," Corbin said. "They really worked together and they deserved to have some success."

Surprisingly to some, that's come in bunches lately for the Jazz, who improved to second in the Western Conference with a 9-4 record thanks to wins in eight of their past nine games.

Their defense and offense (aka Paul Millsap) against the much-improved Clippers was sharp early on, leading to an early double-digit lead (13-2) and a rout from the get-go.

"We had a good team effort (and) everybody came out with a lot of energy," said Millsap, who continued his torrid ways by scoring 10 of his game-high 20 in the first quarter. "We attacked first and we came out with the win."

Not to mention a lot of smiles for a team that has impressively won three straight and all but erased the bad memories of a lousy 1-3 start to the season.

Six Jazz players hit double figures, the team took the orange off the rim with eight highlight-reel dunks and the Griffin-led Clippers were grounded while shooting 36.5 percent.

"It's fun when everybody is out there playing hard, playing together, guys passing the ball," said Jazz small forward C.J. Miles, who came off the bench with aggression and flair while scoring a season-high 19 points. "Usually when we move the ball like that in our sets, we get good shots and we get dunks and layups. We have guys capable of finishing plays like that."

It showed.