Clippers vs. Jazz Game 1 preview and game thread: Let’s do this again

I still haven’t had a full chance to recover from the previous series. I don’t think I’ve been able to fully enjoy that Clippers comeback. Well, maybe because it was only a first round matchup.

Now we shift our focus to the second round and onto the Utah Jazz. This should be a fun one.

Game Information

When: Tuesday, June 8 at 7:00 p.m. PT

Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

How to watch/listen: TNT

Opposing perspective: SLC Dunk

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Reggie Jackson, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Marcus Morris Sr., Ivica Zubac

Jazz: Jordan Clarkson, Royce O’Neale, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert

Injuries/Absences

Clippers: Serge Ibaka (lower back) — OUT

Jazz: Mike Conley Jr. (right hamstring strain) — OUT

The Clippers are coming off a thrilling seven-game series against the Mavericks, where the Jazz are coming off a fairly light five-game series with the Grizzlies. After dropping the first game of the series, Utah won four in a row to take the series.

Both these teams met three times during the regular season, with the Jazz taking two of the three. However, I’m going to throw all that out, because things are entirely different in the playoffs. These two teams haven’t met since the middle of February, so it’s been nearly four months.

Sabreena and myself went more in-depth on this series and what to expect on our latest podcast. If you’d like to hear our thoughts, check it out here.

Overall, I think this is going to be a very competitive series. As I said on the podcast, Utah has far better role players than Dallas did. With that being said, Utah certainly doesn’t have a player quite like Luka Doncic, which could actually benefit the Clippers.

Although the previous series went seven games, the Clippers could have ended the series a lot sooner, they just couldn’t close out some of their games. Plus, their three-point shooting eventually had to even out after struggling early on in the series. Oh, and if I were to guess, I doubt the Clippers lose three games at home again.

The Clippers can win this series, no doubt about it. We saw them play games against Dallas where they practically looked unstoppable. I’m optimistic this can be the Clippers team that gets over the hump and into the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

Catch Sabreena previewing the game later this afternoon on LockerRoom! She’ll be live at 6:00 p.m. PT. Follow her on Twitter for updates on the stream.