Utah Jazz Lose Close One In LA 101-107

Nov 3, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Utah Jazz guard Gordon Hayward (20) attempts to control the ball as Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes (22) defends during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

We saw some grit again for the Utah Jazz tonight. Going into half time they were looking at a 43-56 deficit. The Jazz of the past couple years have been in situations similar to tonight and keeled over. Not this Jazz team though. They came out on a 27-17 run in the third quarter to keep this close all game long!

Yes, the Jazz lost. They made it a lot harder than the Clippers would have liked though. This year teams are going to see the Jazz on their schedule and think they have an easy win. While the Jazz will lose a lot of games, they are going to piss teams off doing so. You could see the Clippers getting visibly upset at how physical this Jazz team is. The Jazz will be fun to watch this year because even if they lose, they will not give up. Let us dig into some points from tonight’s game.

• Dante Exum looked fantastic tonight. The kid is still adjusting to the NBA and you can see him get visibly winded when he gets around the 15 minute mark. However, tonight we saw him be aggressive and attack. We saw an amazing ankle breaker by him that was enough to make any Jazz fan drool!

• Gordon Hayward was aggressive and took the team on his shoulders down the stretch. He stuffed the stat sheet adding 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and a steal. He was gunning tonight! He took 12 threes and hit on five of them. Hayward is now averaging 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists. While putting up those numbers Gordon is shooting 48.1% from the fields and 37.9% from 3. Those are max-money numbers guys.

• Trevor Booker looked wonderful again. I doubt there were any Booker jerseys out there among Jazz fans when the season started, but there will be many by the end of the year. Booker continues to be a successful stretch-4 hitting 5-10 so far this year. Trevor brings a toughness off the bench that seems to carry to the entire team. Oh… and he did this:

• Derrick Favors only got 26 minutes because of foul trouble early. This took him off his groove. He wasn’t asked to do much scoring, as Enes Kanter had 17 points. Derrick will likely have a bounce back game against Cleveland.

• Alec Burks is averaging over five free throw attempts per game. He is also shooting 38.5% from three. If he continues to hit from down town, those FTA will continue to rise.

• As mentioned before Enes Kanter had a great offensive game. He was also able to grab nine boards with his 17 points. Kanter only got 27 minutes though because he had a hard time defending the Griffin/Jordan duo.

• Trey Burke is struggling so far to start the season, shooting a mere 20%. While it has been ugly, don’t look to see Quin change the starting lineup anytime soon. Exum is still getting used to playing in the NBA and has not acclimated to playing 20 minutes per game. He simply isn’t ready to take on many more minutes. It would likely be detrimental to Trey’s development if you bench him at this point. He needs a boost in confidence. Look for him to have a bounce back night verse on of the worst defensive PGs in the league in Kyrie Irving.

• Blake Griffin showed why he will be a MVP candidate this year.

• The whistles did not blow for the Jazz tonight. Our friend, Andy Bailey from Bleacher Report said it well: