JaMychal Green is rewarding the Clippers' faith in him

In the LA Clippers' 105-94 win over the Utah Jazz, Kawhi Leonard was once again the engine powering the Clippers offense and defense, his 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals pacing the way for the home team.

However, in a game when the Clippers dug themselves an early hole against the Jazz starters, it was the bench play – particularly of one JaMychal Green – that helped turn the tide for LA. Green had 12 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench, and the Clippers were plus-30 in his minutes. For context, Leonard was plus-16 in his 34 minutes.

Admittedly, the Clippers' bench always has gaudy stats thanks to its depth of talent, especially against a team like Utah with a backup big rotation of Tony Bradley and Jeff Green. However, Green's contributions even stood out among those of his more heralded bench counterparts such as Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams.

As alluded to in the pregame notes, Green did significant damage in the first game against Utah, his shooting prowess providing a necessary antidote to Rudy Gobert's desire to stay in the paint. Green scored 23 points in the loss, including a career-high 14 in the fourth to go along with a career-high 5 made three-pointers.

Green was again impactful in the teams' second matchup Sunday, though in a different way. In Salt Lake City, the Clippers deployed Green as a five to get some extra spacing on the floor, and he obliged. In Los Angeles, Green was back to power forward, so he used the threat of his jumper to attack closeouts.

It didn't go so well when he tried to drive in the first quarter, but Green got better as the game went along, earning two free throws off of Donovan Mitchell on this attempt.

Those are the kind of plays available to Green, given that he's made 17-of-31 threes (54.8%) this season. The LA front office made a bet on Green this offseason that he could replicate the production he had in his 30-game Clippers stint last year (regular season and playoffs) over the course of a full season. His 43.6% mark on threes from February through April was evidently only a precursor of things to come.

What was even more impressive about Green's game yesterday was his work on the glass. As a big who spaces the floor and pops off of screens, he isn't naturally in the paint. However, instead of the Clippers having to sacrifice rebounding for shooting, Green provides it all. The Jazz certainly forgot to account for his presence on the boards.

The Clippers outrebounded Utah 54-37 as five players (Green, Harrell, Zubac, Leonard, and Patrick Beverley, of course) had at least six rebounds. LA also had 18 offensive rebounds to 6 for the Jazz, leading to a 29-8 advantage in second-chance points.

Green was also excellent on defense, part of a second unit that thrives at stifling opponents even though it has Williams and Harrell at the one and five. Green, Moe Harkless, and Rodney McGruder are all excellent switch defenders, helping to balance out the more offensively-minded duo.

"[Moe's] presence defensively was great and JaMychal did the same thing," head coach Doc Rivers said postgame. "I thought those two guys allowed us to do more switching than we ever could do in the past, and that was terrific for us. We're not only switching, we're switching with 6'10" guys, 6'9" guys with length and toughness. It gives us a defensive factor that a lot of teams just don't have."

JaMychal Green may not be a household name yet, but his impact on the Clippers is unassailable. He enables them to be versatile at the big positions while giving the perimeter stars room to operate. At a deal for the room exception, Green was one of the biggest bargains of the summer and a key piece to the team's early success.