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Tribune Jazz beat reporter Tony Jones will answer readers' questions in a Twitter mailbag each week. You can submit questions using the hashtag #TonyTalks. Here is the this week's questions.

Tony's reply • I never want to put a cap on what a team can or can't do. If the Jazz were to make it to the second round against Golden State, beating the Warriors in a seven-game series would amount to a monumental task.

I think the first-round series against the Clippers is wide open in some aspects. Los Angeles has the experience advantage and match up well against the Jazz.

I think it will end up being a long series, either six or seven games. Whether the Jazz win depends on how their stars accept the challenge against the Clippers' stars. And how their bench performs. Everything matters.

Tony's reply • Everything has to happen.

The Jazz have to shoot well. They have to play offense well. They have to defend well. They have to coach well.

Gordon Hayward has to be a central figure. Rudy Gobert has to play well against DeAndre Jordan. George Hill has to at least slow down Chris Paul. Quin Snyder has to outcoach Doc Rivers.

Beating the Clippers isn't as simple as one or two things tipping the scales in Utah's favor. It has to be a collective effort from Hayward and Gobert down to the 15th guy. The Jazz are attempting to beat one of the most playoff experienced teams the NBA has seen this decade, a team with one of the 10 best point guards to ever play the game. Doing that is going to be tough.

Tony's reply • What you typically see in a playoff series is teams going with their regular-season rotations then making adjustments as needed.

Golden State won the NBA title two years ago when it adjusted to Cleveland's trapping defense by placing Andre Iguodala in the starting lineup and going small. Cleveland did the same thing last year with Richard Jefferson, and that helped the Cavs win the title.

So the team that tweaks and adjusts the best as the series progresses is the team that likely will win.

Defending Griffin and Crawford will be difficult. Crawford long has been a Jazz killer. But defending Chris Paul will be the most important thing.

If Paul is scoring 30 points a night in this series, the Jazz have a very good chance at winning. If Paul is averaging 15 points and 15 assists, thus getting everyone else involved, the Jazz almost certainly will be going home early.

Tony's reply • Make life somewhat difficult on Chris Paul.

The Jazz aren't going to stop him. He's way too good for that, and there are few things a team can throw at him that he hasn't seen.

Paul is one of the best floor generals in NBA history, so the challenge is to make him a scorer, which means people like Blake Griffin, JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford no longer are getting regular touches.

Paul is one of the best defenders for a point guard in NBA history, so George Hill needs to be aggressive, make Paul defend, make him expend energy on that end of the floor and maybe it affects his offense a bit.

Paul is the central figure in everything the Clippers want to accomplish, so containing him has to be the biggest challenge for the Jazz.