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Los Angeles • The Utah Jazz's Sunday afternoon played out like the start of a conversation with a condescending friend.

"No offense but …"

In holding the Blake Griffin and the Clippers to 88 points on Sunday, the Jazz showed they are capable of slowing down even the league's best and, well, no offense but that doesn't mean much without some scoring on the other end.

"We're not going to beat anybody if we can't put the ball in the basket," point guard George Hill said after an 88-75 loss at Staples Center.

Hill scored 18 points and dished out three assists in Sunday's loss, but backup guard Danté Exum (10) was Utah's only other player to reach double figures in scoring.

"Our defense kept us in there for a while," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "Some of our better players struggled tonight. When that happens, it puts a lot of pressure on the other guys and it puts a lot of pressure on your defense."

Count Derrick Favors and Rodney Hood among the group that struggled.

Coming off a 15-point performance in his return from injury Friday, Favors upped his playing time but struggled to convert, even at the basket, going 1 for 8 from the field. Hood was misfiring, too, and finished 2 for 10 from the field. In total, the Jazz connected on 29 of their 73 attempts from the field (39.7 percent).

"We got great looks. We got great looks all night," Hood said. "We just missed shots."

The Jazz led by four after a Rudy Gobert dunk midway through the second quarter. But Clippers forward Austin Rivers answered with a 3-pointer to kick off a 15-4 run to close out the period. Then L.A. reeled off seven more unanswered points at the start of the third to take control of the game.

Rivers burned the Jazz for a game-high 19 points off the bench while his all-star teammates Griffin and Chris Paul had 18 and nine respectively.

"We did everything we could defensively," Hill said.

Through three games, Hill has been the Jazz's best player and he was the team's offensive bright spot again Sunday. But sitting on a 1-2 record after the first week of the season, Hill's box score wasn't enough to satisfy the team's new floor general.

"I don't believe it's a good night for me," he said. "It's a team game. It's not individual. My stats don't mean anything if we lose."

Turnovers (18 leading to 22 points for the Clippers) hurt the Jazz, and so did their effort on the glass. On a night when they missed 44 shots, the Jazz managed to corral just seven offensive rebounds.

"I thought that [our] defense was terrific. We were very physical, you know, two games in a row, our physicality has been something you would notice," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "When they [the Jazz] miss that many shots and they only have seven offensive rebounds, with the type of rebounding team that they are, that's great."

Utah cut the lead down to eight late in the third, but never managed to get any closer.

"We missed timely shots," Hood said. "When we had the chance to cut it five or six, we missed shots and they came down and made one. It's one of those games we'll learn from and we'll be on the other side one day soon."

The Jazz now turn their attention to San Antonio, where they will take on the undefeated Spurs on Tuesday night.

"You just have to move on," Favors said. "That's the good thing about the NBA is when you have a bad game, you can just forget about it and move on to the next one. We have to put this game behind us."

afalk@sltrib.com Twitter: @aaronfalk —

Storylines

R Utah's 18 turnovers turn into 22 Los Angeles points.

• The Clippers grab 14 offensive rebounds and outscore the Jazz 13-4 on second-chance points.

Inside • The Jazz's Rodney Hood aims to attack the rim more often. > B4