Duke Blue Devils: Hood Emerges From Bench
The Duke Blue Devils had hands in both sides of Game 4 for the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.
The Series between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers is not without its key Duke Blue Devils figures. Sunday night, they were in good form whether you tuned in to watch J.J. Redick shoot the ball or Rodney Hood come off the Utah bench in a time of crisis. End the end, the Jazz won 105-98 to even the series at two games apiece as it heads back to Los Angeles.
After giving Chris Paul high praise a couple of days and hinting that this year might be the year for the Clippers, Blake Griffin went down with a season ending injury and Paul had a much bigger lift. The cruel part of last game’s loss if that the Clippers essentially got it and still lost.
Paul and his 2005 ACC compatriots Raymond Felton and Redick put together some really solid numbers. Paul scored twenty-seven and handed out twelve assists and collected nine rebounds. Redick scored twelve points although he could had more in a 2of 7 three point shooting performance. Felton came off the bench to score eleven and get three steals. They even got a twenty-five performance from Jamal Crawford and it was not enough.
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It was not enough because the Utah Jazz had to work from the bench. You will hardly hear the Jazz bemoan Griffin’s fate after losing Rudy Gobert in game one (he’s back by the way). They particularly would not want to hear about it after losing Gordon Hayward to food poisoning during the last game. While Joe Johnson’s twenty-eight point performance got a lot of the press, there was another Jazz guy pressed into more action.
That was Hood. Hood had been one of the stalwarts for the Jazz all season, and he got a lot of the minutes that suddenly became available with Hayward’s absence. Hood provided a little juice from the three point line. He went three of five from out there to help earn eighteen very important points.
Next: Kevin Knox's Decision Time
Hayward could be back for Game 5, but if he is not then maybe we could just sit back and watch all these ACC alumni go at it.