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Ingles' Jazz stung by Clippers in playoffs

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Utah's Joe Ingles fires off a shot despite the attentions of LA Clippers guard Terance Mann.
Camera IconUtah's Joe Ingles fires off a shot despite the attentions of LA Clippers guard Terance Mann. Credit: AP

Joe Ingles has had a good shooting night but it was nowhere enough for the Utah Jazz in a 132-106 NBA play-offs loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Australian ace Ingles had 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting with five 3-pointers as he once again started at guard in place of injured Mike Conley (hamstring) who sat for a third game in a row.

But the top seeds could not prevent Clippers All-Stars duo Kawhi Leonard and Paul George dominating game 3 at home with 34 and 31 points respectively to secure their first win of the series.

The Clippers led at every break and closed the game with a 26-11 run.

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"I've said it the last two games as well. Kawhi and PG, they're capable of really making plays and they made plays for other people," Utah coach Quin Snyder said.

"There's going to be times where it's tough to stop them from making shots."

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Another concern for Utah was an injury to their scoring leader Donovan Mitchell, who had 30 points in 32 minutes but missed the final seven minutes after tweaking his right ankle and with the game so one-sided.

Early reports suggested the injury wasn't serious, giving hope that he can play Game 4 at LA's Staples Center on Monday night when the Jazz will attempt to go 3-1 up in the best of seven series.

"I feel like I was able to go back (on), but no need to risk it down 16, 18 at that point," Mitchell said.

"It doesn't make sense to go back out there and possibly tweak it. Just rest and get ready for the next game."

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue was looking for a prime performance from both Leonard and George and both delivered.

"I don't go to Mastros to order the ketchup, I go to order the steak," said Lue when asked if he expected those types of performances from his two stars every game.

Mitchell said the Jazz would be better prepared for the Clippers' superstar duo next game.

"We kind of let them get comfortable. George hit some shots, but we can make it tougher on him and Kawhi," Mitchell said.

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