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Gordon Hayward spent most of Sunday hooked to an intravenous drip, team doctors trying desperately to prepare the Utah Jazz's ailing All-Star forward for a pivotal postseason game.

By halftime, however, Hayward would be making his way out of Vivint Smart Home Arena, too sick from an apparent bout of food poisoning to return to the court, and Jazz fans everywhere had to be feeling sick, too.

The remedy?

Take one Joe Johnson and get out of his way.

The veteran forward scored a game-high 28 points in a 105-98 victory, saving a shorthanded Jazz for a second time in this best-of-7 series with the Los Angeles Clippers.

"Knowing Gordon wasn't coming back, we knew somebody was going to have to step up," Johnson said.

The Jazz trailed 87-80 midway through the fourth quarter, when Johnson took over Sunday night, scoring the Jazz's next 11 points. Johnson, the hero of Game 1, finished the frame with 13 points, three assists and his second playoff victory as a Jazzman.

"We're lucky to have him," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, the series tied at 2 and heading to Los Angeles. "We were kidding around. It's Sunday, and they used to call him Joe Jesus."

The Jazz's day started with good news. After missing all but 11 seconds of the first three games of the series, center Rudy Gobert suited up against the Clippers on Sunday. The 19,911 in attendance roared as Gobert's name was announced among the Jazz's starters, and roared louder still when Gobert shook the stanchion with a powerful dunk in the opening minutes of the game.

But Hayward's illness would quickly cast doubt on the Jazz's chances of tying the series.

"He was basically on his back up until game time," Snyder said. "He had IVs and whatever kind of anti-nausea stuff to get him in a better place. He wanted to play and got out there and didn't have anything."

Hayward played nine minutes, finishing with three points. He spent most of the first half at the end of the bench, a towel over his shoulders. As the Jazz closed the final minutes of the first half on a 13-5 run to take a 55-52 lead back to the locker room, Hayward already had made his way there.

"I think he threw up again," Snyder said. "They put him in a dark room, put a towel over his head and that was it."

Hayward was seen walking out of the arena during halftime alongside general manager Dennis Lindsey.

"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" said Jazz swingman Joe Ingles. "We've pretty much had everything you can throw at us. Injuries, sickness, kids. Everything's been thrown."

But one of Lindsey's major offseason acquisitions was about to get going.

The Clippers, playing their first game since losing star forward Blake Griffin for the rest of the playoffs to a toe injury, got 27 points and 12 assists from point guard Chris Paul. Former sixth man of the year Jamal Crawford, meanwhile, finally broke out for 25 points off the bench.

But Crawford, who spent two seasons as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, knew all too well what his former teammate, Johnson, could do.

"It's frustrating because he's been the same way and he's had a lot of success," Crawford said. "And now at this point in his career, he just knows what's needed out of him. He gave them that veteran experience. He gave them that leadership. He's been in those battles and those wars and he kind of reverted back to being the guy he was in Atlanta. They played through him."

The Jazz got key contributions Sunday from Gobert (15 points and 13 rebounds in 24 minutes), as well as Derrick Favors (17 points, six rebounds) and Rodney Hood (18 points).

Johnson, meanwhile, was able to do his damage despite having the Clippers' best perimeter defender, Luc Mbah a Moute, shadowing him in the second half.

"Just stay out of his way," Ingles said of Johnson.

Twitter: @aaronfalk