The Los Angeles Clippers are now 16-5 in their last 21 games, the best record in the NBA during the last 21 games, as their takeover of the league just keeps coming. 

Their latest triumph came against the Utah Jazz in a 115-103 victory on Tuesday night and while Kawhi Leonard and James Harden led the Clippers in scoring once again with 21 and 16 points respectively, the real MVP of the game was Kris Dunn. 

Dunn scored a solid 14 points while shooting 6-10 from the field while also having two rebounds, two assists and a remarkable five steals, and it's the steals and what they represent about Dunn's contributions to the game that really stand out. 

Dunn had the tough task of guarding Utah star Lauri Markkanen and he gave it his all. Dunn held Markkanen to 19 points, well below his outstanding season average of 27.9 points per game and his pesky defense, stealing and ability to lock down Markkanen all game was the serious difference maker for the Clippers on a relatively quiet night. 

It was Dunn's defense that stood out the most to Clippers head coach Ty Lue as well after the game. 

"Guarding the best player every night. He's like a shut down corner," Lue said of Dunn (via The Sporting Tribune). "He wants that responsibility. He takes on the challenge every single night and that's why he should be on an All-Defensive team. Tonight was a true testament of who he is and how he guards."

Dunn's willingness and responsibility to be the team's leading defender and take every opposing team's best scorer is so crucial for the Clippers as a whole because it frees up the elite scorers like Leonard and Harden to go to work every night and do what they do best on the offensive end. 

The way that Dunn plays defense is just one example of the connectivity that the Clippers have that have made them so successful and so dangerous of the last month and why they're quickly rising to the .500 mark after their tough start.

The team has had the chance to fit together mostly uninhibited by injuries and so many players have risen to the occasion and played their role to the letter to generate this kind of widespread success. 

Dunn's elite defense is just one key piece of the well-oiled machine the Clippers have become, but he was the piece that was most on display Tuesday night in Salt lake City.