Jazz Leaves Clippers at a Loss

John Stockton’s shorts are still far too short to be considered fashionable at any point since, oh, 1985. Karl Malone still takes roughly 9.99 seconds of his allotted 10 to shoot his free throws. And the Utah Jazz still owns the Clippers.

What else is new?

The Jazz defeated the Clippers, 99-94, in front of a crowd of 15,243 on Tuesday night at Staples Center. That’s 15 consecutive victories for Utah over the Clippers, a streak that seemed destined to end when Elton Brand made two free throws to give the Clippers a 90-84 lead with 3:39 remaining.

But the Clippers (5-10) missed too many free throws and turned over the ball to the Jazz far too often and, soon enough, Utah had pulled out a victory by closing with a 15-4 run.

Stockton and Malone didn’t win the game by themselves. In fact, Calbert Cheaney (early) and Matt Harpring (late) played pivotal roles for the Jazz, winners of five consecutive games after starting the season 3-7.

Cheaney had 10 of his 12 points in the first half and Harpring scored 24 of his 30 in the second half, keeping the Jazz in good shape for a decisive stretch run. Stockton finished with nine points and Malone had 17.

Andre Miller led the Clippers with 21 points and nine assists and Brand had 19 points and 11 rebounds. But they both missed key free throws in the fourth quarter that kept the Clippers from building a bigger lead.

The Clipper reserves were outscored, 25-12, which didn’t help much. With small forwards Corey Maggette (knee) and Lamar Odom (ankle) on the injured list for at least the next month, the Clippers need more from their reserves than just Keyon Dooling’s 12 points in 19 minutes Tuesday.

“I don’t know what to say,” Coach Alvin Gentry said after the Clippers made only 11 of 18 free throws (61.1%) and committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter. “It’s another one of those doggone games we play well enough in and just can’t close out. We’ve got to make more free throws. We can’t turn the ball over. It’s basically the same thing. We play well and get to a point where the game is going to be decided and we don’t make the plays to get us over the hump.”

Scott Padgett got the Jazz’s comeback started with two free throws with 3:24 left. Stockton drove past Miller for a layup. Malone then lofted a 13-foot jump shot over Michael Olowokandi. Suddenly, the teams were tied at 90.

Miller would make two of four free throws and Brand made a late layup for the rest of the Clippers’ scoring. Utah would make seven of eight free throws in the final minute to clinch it.

“The game was right there for us to win,” Gentry said. “We didn’t get the job done. We missed free throws. We didn’t make shots. We didn’t come up with defensive stops. I don’t know. We’ve got to play better down the stretch than we have been playing. We’ve been our own worst enemy. We’ve got 10 losses now and we’ve been our own worst enemy in seven of the 10 losses.”

By halftime, the Clippers were off to their customary strong start followed by their all too familiar fade in the second quarter. Still, they led, 41-40, despite holding the Jazz to 15-for-36 shooting (41.7%).

As ever, or so it seems when these teams play, the Jazz cleaned up against the Clippers at the free-throw line, sinking eight of 13. The Clippers went to the line four times and made two.

The Clippers’ zone defense kept Malone and Stockton off balance on the perimeter and unable to run their textbook pick and rolls. So often during Utah’s streak, which dates to March 27, 1999, the Jazz worked over the Clippers by running an unstoppable pick and roll, which led to layup after layup.

This time, Gentry decided to try a zone. It paid off in easy baskets to start Tuesday’s game. The Clippers led, 28-19, early in the second quarter, after Olowokandi made a short jump shot.

By halftime, the leading scorer for the Jazz was neither Malone nor Stockton, but Cheaney, who had 10 points.