Paul George dropped 37 in Leonard’s absence and Clippers lead the series 3–2
With Kawhi Leonard sidelined with a knee injury, Paul George responded really well having his best playoff performance (37pts, 12/22 FG, 3/9 3-PT, 10/11 FT, 16 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk) since his days with the Pacers, Reggie Jackson gave them a tremendous boost with 22 points and Marcus Morris added 25 points as the Clippers won 119–111 the Utah Jazz and now lead the series 3–2.
George became the first player in franchise history to post at least 35 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists in a playoff game.
“It was no secret. I knew I had to be big tonight and gotta be big going forward,” George said.
“Every guy that played tonight contributed and that’s the team we have,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after seeing his players being aggressive during the whole game and putting incredible amount of pressure on the opposition. “Mentally tough. Mentally strong. We just keep fighting to the end.”
Bojan Bogandovic scored 32 points and made nine 3-pointers, Donovan Mitchell added 21 points and Rudy Gobert chipped in 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz.
“This series is not over,” Mitchell said. “We got a lot of life left to give, a lot of juice to give and we just got to go out there and play with a level of desperation that we’d never played with before, otherwise we’ll be home.”
Game 6 is on Friday 10:00 PM.