Gordon Hayward came through with a terrific individual weekend, and after a hard-fought split, the Utah Jazz control their own playoff destiny with two games left in the regular season.

On Friday night G-Time recoded his fourth double-double of the season in a 24-point, 13-rebound performance, but the Jazz fell to the Clips in OT by a final score of 102-99. He also added five assists, a block and shot 8-of-17 from the floor against a shorthanded Los Angeles squad.

The game went to overtime after Cole Aldrich’s putback layup tied the game at 94 and Hayward’s last-second jumper attempt was off the mark. The Jazz had a chance to go ahead late in overtime, but Rodney Hood’s floater bounced off the iron with 23.8 seconds remaining.

Jamal Crawford milked the clock almost all the way before knocking down a deep trey with 0.2 seconds remaining. Hood managed to get off a game-tying attempt off in the final two-tenths of a second, but it was off target.

“We’ve got to move on from this one,” Hayward said. “We have a three-game season coming up. I think that’s the way we have to look at this one. We have to win each one of these next three games if we want to get in. You go from there and put this one behind you.”

Utah Jazz v Denver Nuggets

Hayward’s team came out on Sunday and did just as he suggested. Utah used a strong defensive preference to earn a key 100-84 win over the Nuggets to remain a game ahead of the Houston Rockets for the eighth spot in the West.

G20 finished tied with Trey Lyles for a team-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. Hayward’s stifling defense was instrumental in Utah’s remarkable 24-0 third quarter run that put this one out of reach for Denver.

In the final 6:56 of the third, Hayward and Rudy Gobert were a force in the game-changing run. Hayward recorded back-to-back steals off passes by Emmanuel Mudiay and Will Barton in a 25-second span that both were converted into layups. No. 20 also recorded a huge block and Rudy added three of his six total blocks in the spurt.

“You have to give it to our defense,” Lyles said. “Defensively in the third quarter we locked down and we went on that big run. And that’s pretty much what propelled us the rest of the game.”

Los Angeles Clippers v Utah Jazz

Friday’s loss to the Clippers started off slow for Hayward. The Jazz went back and forth with the Clippers in the first and G-Time’s first field goal of the game came towards the end of the frame when his layup tied things up at 23.

It wasn’t until midway through the second until G-Time got things going offensively and helped Utah go on a 13-1 run to pull ahead. With 6:40 to play in the first half, Hayward drained a three-pointer to put the Jazz up 41-34. On the ensuing possession, G-time’s step-back jumper gave his team a nine-point edge.

Later in the quarter, G20 knocked down a pretty fadeaway to give the Jazz a 52-45 lead with 33.9 left in the half, and they ended up going into the locker room with a five-point lead after Paul Pierce responded with a turnaround fadeaway of his own on the ensuing Clipper possession.

The third started off strong for G-Time, as he hit his second trifecta of the night at the 9:22 mark to put the Jazz up 56-53 after L.A. had tied it up. The Clippers went on a 14-2 run to jump ahead, but Hayward helped the Jazz claw back with a fadeaway to make it a 69-62 game.

“They have some guys that, once they get in a rhythm, then it doesn’t matter if you’re playing good defense or not,” G said. “Just a tough one tonight.”

Los Angeles Clippers v Utah Jazz

Los Angeles extended its lead to 10 before Gordon got hot and cut the deficit to single digits. His jumper with 3:22 remaining in the quarter made it an eight-point game, and with 0.9 seconds left, he nailed another triple to bring the Jazz within four entering the final period.

Hayward was held without a field goal in the fourth, but he made a couple crucial passes to help the Jazz force overtime. With 6:17 left in regulation and the Jazz down by one, Hayward connected with Shelvin Mack and Hood on back-to-back possessions for clutch treys to put Utah ahead 89-85.

“Early on I didn’t think we came out ready to play. But then I think we controlled the game for the most part and in the fourth it felt like we had a five, six-point lead almost the whole fourth quarter,” Gordon explained. “At the end they just kept hanging around and hanging around…made some big shots obviously.”

Utah held a 94-90 advantage with 53.5 seconds left after No. 20 got to the line and hit both his attempts from the stripe. However, the Clippers scored the final four points of the quarter to send the game to overtimem where Crawford’s late dagger put the game away.

“This is a dangerous team. We knew it,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said of the undermanned Clippers. “You’ve got a Hall of Famer out there in Paul Pierce, and Jamal Crawford is capable of having the kind of night that he had — and he won the game at the end.”

In Sunday night’s big win over the Nuggets, the Jazz put forth just the kind of response they needed. G-Time knocked down his first bucket early in the first and drew contact to make it a three-point play that put Utah up 7-4.

Neither team was able to pull away in the opening frame and the Jazz ended up going into the second with a 26-22 lead. The game continued to stay close throughout the second and the Jazz held on to a 48-47 advantage going into the half. Hayward’s sole bucket of the quarter came on a driving layup that put the Jazz up by one at the 2:07 mark.

G20 knocked down his first triple of the night early in the third to bring his squad within two after the Nuggets’ 8-2 run to start the quarter.  A couple minutes later, the Jazz put together their impressive 24-0 outburst to pull ahead by 20 by the end of the third.

After the Jazz scored 11 consecutive points and went ahead 69-62, No. 20 took the game over in a 25-second spurt. He picked off Mudiay’s pass and finished with the driving layup in transition and virtually repeated the feat on the next possession.

Utah Jazz v Denver Nuggets

Gordon alertly got in the way of Barton’s pass and finished off the play again with a layup on the other end despite being fouled by Mudiay. G20 capped off the three-point play with ease to give the Jazz a comfortable 74-62 lead.

Hayward factored into the following two scores for the Jazz as he first connected with Gobert who finished off the play with a cutting slam. On the next possession Gordon was on the receiving end of an alley-oop off a nice feed from Alec Burks to make it a 16-point game.

With the game essentially put away after the furious third quarter spurt, Hayward and the Jazz still fought hard though the end. G20’s jumper early in the fourth made it a 20-point game again, and towards the back end of the frame he nailed his second trifecta to put Utah up by 21 with 4:06 remaining.

NEXT UP

Hayward and the Jazz (40-40) will square off against the Dallas Mavericks (41-39) tonight in an important Western Conference showdown. The Mavericks are currently a game ahead of the Jazz for the No. 7 spot, so Gordon and his teammates are well aware of the implications

“We’ve got a great opportunity in front of us, which will be fun,” said Hayward. “We’ve been good in back-to-backs all year and I already know the atmosphere is going to be great with the fans tomorrow night.”

After falling to Dallas early in the campaign, the Jazz earned a big 121-119 overtime victory over the Mavs on Feb. 9. With only two games left on the regular season slate, G-Time and Co. will look to give it all they have when they take the floor tonight.

The game will tip off at 7 p.m. MST from Vivint Smart Home Arena and will be aired on ROOT.

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS – 4/11

7. Dallas Mavericks (41-39) 30.5 GB

8. Utah Jazz (40-40) 31.5 GB

——-Playoff cutoff——-

9. Houston Rockets (39-41) 32.5 GB

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