Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 109-104 victory over Utah

A day that had a horrid start for the Clippers came with a semi-happy ending. They beat the Utah Jazz, 109-104, on Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena only hours after learning they had lost All-Star forward Blake Griffin for at least two weeks with a partially torn left quadriceps tendon. Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. The Clippers persevered in their first game this season without Griffin, who was injured on Friday against the Lakers but kept playing. It was an all-aboard effort, with J.J. Redick and Paul Pierce making a barrage of three-pointers, Chris Paul coming up with a big steal in the final minutes, DeAndre Jordan doing his double-double thing and Cole Aldrich providing solid minutes off the bench. “Forever how long of a duration it is, whether it is a week or three weeks, we have to all be ready to step in and make big plays,” said Redick, who finished with 25 points.

2. The theme for the night was Let Threedom Ring. The Clippers made 13 of 26 three-pointers, largely on the strength of Redick and Pierce each making five of seven from that distance. Each player made three three-pointers during a third quarter in which the Clippers outscored the Jazz, 31-24. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said the outside shooting was a result of going smaller with Griffin out. “We’re going to play small ball a lot,” Rivers said, “so we’re going to get more threes or more layups, one of the two, so we have to take advantage of it.”

3. Pierce showed he’s still got something left at 38. Josh Smith started the game at power forward but Pierce finished it emphatically with his final three-pointer with 28 seconds left. Pierce made six of 11 shots and finished with a season-high 20 points—five times his average of 4.0 points entering the game. “I’m not the go-to scorer I was years back where they would give it to me in isolation,” Pierce said. “I do a good job really playing off our stars pretty much and that’s what I was able to do today. I’m out there with J.J. and Chris Paul and D.J. and they’re going to take most of the attention and I was able to take advantage of it.” Pierce also had a dunk in the first quarter. “I didn’t see that coming, that’s for sure,” said Rivers, who added that Pierce playing a season-high 27 minutes also allowed him to get in a rhythm. “I think part of it is on me as much as it is on him and I’ve been saying that all year,” Rivers said. “But it has to help his confidence and help him get in better rhythm with our guys.”

4. Rivers said he’ll use lots of small-ball lineups with Griffin out. The coach said he anticipated being able to use Pierce extensively for at least the next two games because the Clippers’ next two opponents—the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Hornets—prefer to go small as well. Rivers also favored the spacing Pierce provided with his three-point shooting as opposed to Smith, who missed both of his shots and played only five minutes.

5. The Clippers should benefit from a relatively easy schedule the next few weeks. Five of their next seven opponents have losing records and the one that doesn’t—the Hornets, which the Clippers will play twice in a 10-day span—is only two games over .500. It’s a stretch that the Clippers should be able to withstand without losing any ground in the Western Conference playoff race even without their leading scorer.

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch