Five takeaways from the Clippers’ defeat of the Utah Jazz

The Clippers let a big lead slip away during the fourth quarter but recovered for a 102-84 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. The loss of point guard Milos Teodosic already showed how much he’ll be missed.

With him out against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night while recovering from a plantar fascia injury to his left foot, Clippers coach Doc Rivers found himself playing his starting backcourt of Austin Rivers and Patrick Beverley way too much.

Beverley played a game-high 42 minutes, 28 seconds, and Rivers played 34:39.

The high usage might have affected Beverley’s carelessness with the basketball, since he had seven turnovers.

But Beverley was efficient otherwise, scoring 19 points on seven-for-14 shooting, including four of seven on three-pointers.

Rivers also was solid, scoring 16 points on seven-for-13 shooting.

2. The Clippers had balanced scoring in their win over the Jazz, getting all five starters scoring in double figures.

Blake Griffin led the way with 22 points, Beverley was next with his 19, then Austin Rivers with his 16, Danilo Gallinari with his 14 points and DeAndre Jordan with his 11.

3. The Clippers as a whole took good care of the basketball, turning it over just 13 times.

Of course, Beverley had over half of them, but otherwise it was a smart way to play basketball.

4. Griffin was the Clippers’ best playmaker against the Jazz.

He had six assists, the most of anyone on the court.

5. Rookie Sindarius Thornwell was thrown into the action for 4:11.

He was solid, making one of his two shots.

But perhaps more importantly, he was good on defense in his limited minutes.

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