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LOS ANGELES -- The loss of Rudy Gobert provided inspiration for the Utah Jazz. Joe Johnson channeled it into a game-winning shot. Johnson's runner in the lane as time expired lifted the Jazz to a 97-95 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs on Saturday at Staples Center.
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Johnson scored a team-high 21 points off the bench for the Jazz, who lost Gobert less than 20 seconds into the game after sustaining a sprained left knee.
"I think it was very motivating considering the fact that he's a big part of what we do, especially defensively," Johnson said of Gobert. "I think we felt and knew that a lot of people were probably counting us out when he went down, but man, we stuck together, fought hard for 48 minutes, we had ups and downs, but at the end of the day we came out with a win."
Gordon Hayward contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds, George Hill added 16 points and Derrick Favors chipped in 15 points for Utah.
Game 2 is Tuesday at Staples Center.
Blake Griffin scored 26 points for the Clippers, but only two of those came in the fourth quarter and six in the second half. Chris Paul had 25 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds and DeAndre Jordan collected 10 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles.
"It ain't great, obviously," said Paul, who scored 12 points in the final period, of the loss. "In a seven-game series, they took homecourt advantage. It sucks that we lost, and to tell you the truth, we've sucked pretty bad here at home in the playoffs anyway, know what I mean?"
Gobert went down clutching his left knee after bumping knees with Clippers forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Gobert was setting a pick for Hayward when he and Mbah a Moute collided. Gobert had to be helped off the court and carried into the locker room.
Gobert was scheduled for an MRI exam later Saturday.
"We're not sure what the situation is with Rudy yet," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "It would be nice to get him back, obviously. Unfortunate for him as much as anyone if he can't come back because I know how much he was looking forward to competing. But we'll find out."
Favors made one of two foul shots for a 95-93 lead with 18.7 seconds left, but Paul tied the score on a runner with 13 seconds remaining before Johnson delivered the game-winner.
"Well you know, when Joe makes the shot, it always makes the coach look smart," said Snyder, who refused to call a timeout after Paul's shot. "We wanted the ball to go to Joe, in his hands, and we got a switch, and like he said, there's a lot of ways to cut that. There's nothing we did that was creative or smart, we just decided to play it that way, and what we did is we had a player that made a play, and that's usually what it comes down to."
Utah led by as many as eight early in the fourth quarter before Los Angeles rallied. The Clippers closed within 90-89 on a jumper by Paul with 3:10 remaining, but the Jazz answered with buckets by Hayward and Johnson, the latter coming with 1:08 left for a 94-89 advantage.
J.J. Redick's layup 23 seconds later sliced the gap to three before Griffin's two free throws pulled the Clippers within 94-93 with 23.3 seconds remaining.
"I thought they played well under adverse conditions with Gobert going down," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "In some ways, that helped them. They got small and stretched the floor, which hurt us a little bit, and we didn't play great. We really didn't, offensively or defensively."
NOTES: Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers was a member of the 1992 Clippers team that lost to the Jazz in five games in the opening round of the playoffs. The series was overshadowed by the riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdicts were handed down. "It was a crazy series. I remember being down 0-2 and then we win Game 3 and it looks like we're getting some momentum, and then the Rodney King riots started," said Rivers, who spent one season with the Clippers as a player. "L.A. was closed. We couldn't find anywhere to practice." Game 4, which the Clippers won, was played at the Anaheim Convention Center for precautionary reasons. Utah returned home and prevailed in Game 5. ... Clippers G Austin Rivers (left hamstring strain) will miss at least the first two games of the series. ... Games 3 and 4 will be at Utah on Friday and April 23.
