Kanter’s 17 points not enough for Jazz agains Clippers

LOS ANGELES

Clippers forward Griffin (32) battles for the ball with Jazz center Enes Kanter.

Turkish center Enes Kanter posted 17 points and 9 rebounds fort he Utah Jazz against the Los Angeles Clippers Nov. 3, but his performance could not stop a 107-101 loss.

Chris Paul stole defensive rebounds from his own big men, the Clippers got 39 points from their bench, and it was all too much for the young Jazz.

Gordon Hayward scored 27 points Alec Burks 16 points for Utah, which has lost three of four.

Paul notched the NBA’s first triple-double of the season and his first with the Clippers, finishing with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. He showed no ill effects after spraining his left foot a night earlier.
“We won, so that’s all that matters,” said Paul, who got 2 1/2 hours of treatment on his foot to be able to play.

Paul was the leading rebounder for the Clippers, who got outboarded 51-37.

“When he’s going after rebounds like that, I guess it’s hard for our bigs to crash,” Utah’s Gordon Hayward said. “A lot of those rebounds were defensive, so when our bigs are crashing that can be a load down there.”

Blake Griffin scored 31 points, Jamal Crawford added 19 to go over 15,000 in his career and Reggie Bullock scored all of his 12 points on 3-pointers for the Clippers.

Crawford had missed Sunday’s loss to Sacramento because of bruised ribs and he said he still feels only 70 percent. He returned to go over the milestone on a floating jumper at 6:53 of the fourth and has totaled 15,003 points in his 14-year career.

“It’s a pretty good number,” Crawford said. “I’ve been really consistent.”

In New York, Mikhail Prokhorov watched his Brooklyn Nets dismantle Oklahoma City 116-85 in their first home game of the season, and said he has no immediate plans to give up control of the club.

There have been multiple reports that the Russian billionaire - who bought the then-New Jersey Nets for some $200 million in a sale finalized in 2010 - was entertaining offers from potential buyers.

“My position is that I will not give up control of the team,” Prokhorov said prior to Monday’s game.

“But I am quite happy when someone sends me a nice offer, without taking my control. I think for the time being nothing is imminent, but I still think it’s not bad to just listen.”        Prokhorov acknowledged that the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for an astonishing $2 billion to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, finalized in August, made him feel it would be foolish not to sound out the market.

“I think it’s common knowledge for the time being that for the last few months the market cap of NBA teams have skyrocketed,” Prokhorov said. “That’s why I think for any businessman in connection with some proposal, it’s the great opportunity just to (listen).”