LOS ANGELES -- A solid defensive outing was the difference in the Los Angeles Clippers' win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

Austin Rivers came off the bench to score 19 points and Blake Griffin added 18 points and 10 rebounds, sparking the Clippers to an 88-75 victory over the Jazz in their home opener at Staples Center.

"It's a big point of emphasis for us," Griffin said of defending. "Every day in practice I feel like we're probably more into our defense and harder on ourselves on our defense than anything else. Every day we make it a point to make teams feel us on the defensive end."

Added Clippers coach Doc Rivers, "I thought that our defense was terrific. We were very physical two games in a row. Our physicality has been something you would notice."

Reserve Jamal Crawford chipped in 12 points, while center DeAndre Jordan contributed seven points and 16 rebounds for the Clippers (2-0).

Jordan suffered a sprained right thumb in the third quarter but returned briefly in the fourth. He was scheduled to have the thumb re-examined after the game.

George Hill paced the Jazz with 18 points. Reserve guard Dante Exum was the only other Utah to reach double figures with 10. Joe Johnson scored seven points in the opening quarter, but failed to score again.

With the exception of Hill, the starting lineup of Johnson, Boris Diaw, Rudy Gobert and Rodney Hood combined for only 20 points.

"I didn't believe it was a good night for me. It's a team game, not individual," said Hill, who made eight of 13 shots from the floor and two of four on 3-pointers. "My stats don't mean anything if we lose a game like we did today. They just played a better match than we did."

Hood said missing open shots was Utah's downfall.

"We got great looks all night," said Hood, who went 2-of-10 from the field. "I don't think there was anything defensively that they did. We just missed shots. I missed a lot of chippies near the basket, we had a couple of offensive rebounds that went out of bounds. We've got to knock those shots down and finish plays and it will be a closer game."

The Clippers grabbed a 42-35 lead at the break. Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, with Los Angeles shooting 35.7 percent to 36.1 percent for the Jazz. Utah committed 10 turnovers, leading to 12 points, while Los Angeles turned the ball over eight times (eight points).

Overall, the Clippers hit 41 percent of their shots to 39.7 percent for the Jazz (1-2). Los Angeles managed to convert 6 of 27 attempts (22.2 percent) from behind the 3-point arc compared to seven of 19 (36.1 percent) for Utah.

Utah finished with 18 miscues (leading to 22 points) to 13 for Los Angeles (12 points).

The Clippers held a slight edge in rebounding, 49-43, including a 14-7 margin on the offensive end. Jordan had six of offensive boards.

"Rebounding, defending and doing the little things were really important for us today," Crawford said. "Those are the things we emphasize in practice, and have to keep improving throughout the season."

Griffin made five of his nine shots for 12 points before intermission, allowing him to pass Corey Maggette (8,835) for fourth on the Clippers' all-time scoring list. Griffin now has 8,846 points in his career.

A 10-2 run by Los Angeles boosted it to a 52-37 advantage to open the third quarter and they stayed in command the rest of the contest. The Clippers held a 69-56 lead heading into the final quarter.

Los Angeles has captured wins in five consecutive home openers.

NOTES: Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Utah's addition of G George Hill, F Joe Johnson and F Boris Diaw were the biggest pickups of the offseason with the exception of Golden State adding F Kevin Durant. "They had a terrific summer," Rivers said. ... Los Angeles F Jamal Crawford missed all three of his 3-point attempts Sunday. He is nine behind Memphis F Vince Carter (1,943) for sixth on the all-time list after Carter made five on Sunday. ... The Jazz lead the NBA with the most international players on their roster. They are C Rudy Gobert (France), F Boris Diaw (France), G Dante Exum (Australia), F Joe Ingles (Australia), G Raul Neto (Brazil), F Trey Lyles (Canada) and F Joel Bolomboy (Ukraine). ... The Clippers host the Phoenix Suns on Monday. Fans are encouraged to dress in costume. Giveaways and several Halloween-themed entertainments will be featured throughout the game. ... The Jazz visit the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.