Back at home, where they finally found a sense of comfort, the Los Angeles Clippers will attempt to move on from a three-game losing streak when they host the Utah Jazz on Sunday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Clippers return to their new arena after dropping all three games of a road trip, including consecutive defeats against the Houston Rockets. The most recent of those losses came Friday when the Rockets stormed off to a 125-104 victory.
Clippers leading scorer Norman Powell was held to a season-low eight points Friday, well below his season average of 23.6 per game. In the two games at Houston, Powell averaged 10.5 points, shot 27.6 percent from the floor and 3 of 11 from 3-point range (27.3 percent).
In a rare moment to savor on the trip, Los Angeles veteran James Harden made three 3-pointers Friday to tie Ray Allen for second on the all-time list with 2,973. Harden had 21 points but finished with a season-low two assists. Harden has averaged 8.3 assists this season.
“I think they did a great job of denying me and denying James, taking us out of initiating our action, pushing us all the way out to the half court to start our offense,” Powell said. “They were physical. They took us out of what we wanted to do.”
Still without Kawhi Leonard (knee) this season, and when teams hold Powell and Harden in check, Los Angeles’ route to victory becomes limited. The Clippers now are on high alert for opponents to adapt the Rockets’ plan against them.
“We’ll get back to the lab and figure out how to beat that adjustment, especially if teams are going to start doing that,” Harden said.
The Jazz are starting to emerge from a rough start to the season, which they opened on a six-game losing streak. They have gone 3-3 since, but have yet to win consecutive games after falling 121-117 on the road to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
Lauri Markkanen scored 25 points for Utah, while Keyonte George added 19 and Collin Sexton had 18. The Jazz led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and were up 116-113 with 1:54 remaining but made just one free throw the rest of the way.
Markkanen missed three consecutive games with a back injury as the calendar flipped to November, but has averaged 18.8 points in the past four games.
Jazz forward John Collins is putting up a team-best 17.9 points per contest, even while coming off the bench in the first nine games. Since moving into the starting lineup for the past three games, he has averaged 24.3 points.
“John has done a really good job of using his physicality,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “He’s attacked the switch really well, and our team has looked for him in those moments. He’s also been able to find some rhythm 3s.”
Jordan Clarkson is rounding into form after missing a pair of games to start the month with a foot injury and scored 17 points in 30 minutes off the bench Saturday. Taylor Hendricks was lost for the season after three games following a gruesome right leg injury.
