In a close contest, the Clippers held off the Utah Jazz 101 - 97. The Jazz had a chance to cut the Clippers' lead to one point late in the game, but Derrick Favors missed two free throws to keep the score at 99 - 96 with 31 seconds remaining in the fourth. Free throws played a huge role late in this game. The Jazz shot a paltry 59 percent from the line as a team and missed several free throws late in the game. Favors, who was shooting 70 percent from the line coming into the game, was 3 - for - 9 from the charity stripe Tuesday night. By comparison, the Clippers were 17 - for - 22 from the line in this matchup. Still, the Jazz kept the game very close, as they never trailed by more than five points in the fourth quarter. The Jazz (10 - 21) had won four out of five games coming into Tuesday night's matchup and gave the Clippers quite a scare at the Staples Center. Gordon Hayward led the Jazz in scoring with 22 points and added seven rebounds as well. The Jazz also got a solid performance off the bench by second - year big man Rudy Gobert, who posted a double - double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.The Jazz have a quick turnaround as they return home to play Minnesota on Tuesday night. The Clippers (21 - 11) were led by a big performance from Blake Griffin, who had 24 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks. Spencer Hawes played 13 minutes in his return after missing the previous nine games with a knee injury. The Clippers are now 2 - 1 in the first three games of their nine - game homestand. They are idle Tuesday before taking on the Knicks on New Year's Eve.
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 "TeamStat(G,'Jazz') has 21 Losses ,has 97 Total points ,has 10 Points in 4th quarter ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Gordon Hayward') has 22 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Derrick Favors') has 9 Assists ,has 3 Blocks ."
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 "PlayerStat(G,'Blake Griffin') has 7 Assists ,has 3 Blocks ,has 24 Free throws attempted ,has 6 Free throws made ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Spencer Hawes') has 13 Assists ."]