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Clippers-Jazz Preview

Dec 26, 2015 - 10:44 PM One of Blake Griffin's best efforts didn't help the Los Angeles Clippers maintain their mastery of the Utah Jazz in their last meeting.

On Saturday night - and for at least the next few weeks - they won't have the luxury of letting Griffin take over.

With Griffin out due to a partially torn left quad, the Clippers try to regroup as they continue a busy stretch while looking for a seventh straight win in Salt Lake City.

Los Angeles (17-13) ended a three-game winning streak with Friday's 94-84 win over the Lakers, but it came at a serious cost as Griffin was injured on a drive to the basket in the first quarter. He'll miss at least the next two weeks before being reevaluated.

Griffin had his best game of the season when the Clippers hosted Utah on Nov. 25, scoring 40 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, but the Jazz snapped a 13-game skid in the series with a 102-91 win.

Utah (12-15) still held a 44-38 advantage in points in the paint behind the frontcourt trio that combined for 65 points in Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert. Hayward's 33 points were a season high.

Gobert pulled down 11 rebounds as the Jazz held a 39-35 edge on the glass. The center was lost Nov. 30 due to a MCL sprain in his left knee.

The Clippers will open a four-game trip, although the victory over the Lakers was technically a road game. They seemed to be in position to get Griffin and other starters some rest for this contest with a 28-point lead after three quarters.

Instead, they allowed the Western Conference's worst team to cut the margin to 13 points, forcing Doc Rivers to re-insert Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan with 7:11 remaining. Wesley Johnson also entered at that time and scored five of the Clippers' nine points in a period in which they allowed 27.

''We've had to do that before,'' Paul said. ''But it's not about the starters having to come back in. It's about us as a team closing games out and we have to get better at that.''

Paul had 23 points and six assists, scoring 17 in the Clippers' 60-point first half. He has 55 points in his last two games.

Jordan, who leads the league in field-goal percentage at 70.8, had nine points and 14 boards.

The Clippers face three losing teams and a struggling Charlotte club on this trip, though they know they can't overlook anyone - particularly with Griffin out.

"Our record is not as good as we'd like for it to be right now," Paul said. "We're just trying to play the right way and pile up some wins."

Utah fell 103-85 at Golden State on Wednesday, finishing with its second-worst point total after shooting 41.3 percent. The Jazz made 7 of 20 3-pointers.

"We got tentative," coach Quin Snyder said. "If we make a couple of those (3-pointers), the game gets tighter."

Hayward made 2 of 15 shots for eight points. Favors led the way with 17 points and nine boards.

Utah is relying more on 3-pointers since Gobert went down, averaging 24.0 attempts and shooting 37.1 percent in its last 11 games. The Jazz averaged 19.4 attempts and shot 35.7 in their first 16.