Struggling Utah Jazz suffer stinging loss to Los Angeles Clippers

Even though they didn't arrive in Utah until early Friday morning after bashing Boston in Los Angeles late Thursday night, the Clippers went on a dominating run after that.

Barnes started the rally with a 3-pointer, sparking a 16-2 Clippers run. By the time the third quarter ended, Los Angeles had cut its deficit to 88-84.

"We just stayed with it," Paul said. "We walked out, I think in the third quarter, and I looked up at the clock and saw we were down 16. I was thinking to myself that we can come back, but we are going to have to work real hard. It started on the defensive end."

The Clippers tied it at 90-90 after Caron Butler hit a 3-pointer and a free throw for a four-point play after being fouled by Gordon Hayward.

The Jazz regained a five-point lead, but the combination of Blake Griffin (22 points, 13 rebounds), DeAndre Jordan (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Paul proved to be too much to handle in crunch time.

"They're a good team," Foye said. "They got to the free-throw line. They hit some shots. They got some offensive rebounds. They played well. They came back. They played like the best team in the NBA."

Despite playing without starting point guard Mo Williams (thumb injury) yet again, the Jazz busted out of their offensive slump. On this night, even a 114-outing and a big double-digit lead, however, just wasn't enough to overcome the red-hot Clippers.

"It's all tough — on our home court," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "We had a lead. We gave up the lead, but we continued to fight. We made some mistakes, but we fought our way through it and had a chance to win the ballgame at the end. Unfortunately, they got a lot of free throws."

NOTES: The two teams meet each other again Sunday in Los Angeles. "Hopefully, we can go into L.A. and do the same thing that they did to us," Hayward said. …. The Clippers were 33 of 41 from the free-throw line; Utah went 37 of 40. … Hayward (17 points) and Burks (11 points) led the Jazz's offensive charge off the bench.

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