Clippers Falter in Stretch and Lose to Jazz, 110-102

So much for home-court mystique.

The Clippers, who had won 6 of their first 8 home games this season, seemed to put their offense in reverse in the final 5 minutes Saturday night during a 110-102 loss to the Utah Jazz at the Sports Arena.

Down by one point, 96-95, with 5:22 to play, the Clippers:

--Did not score in 9 of their last 14 trips down the court.

--Committed 4 turnovers.

--Sank only half of 10 free-throw attempts.

--Hit just 1 of 8 shots.

The Jazz made up an 11-point third-quarter deficit to go ahead, 90-89, with 8:16 left. The Clippers deserved to lose the lead, too, considering the Jazz had moved ahead when 6-foot 1-inch John Stockton blew down the lane for consecutive layups.

Stockton scored 24 points before fouling out with 1:01 left. Karl Malone scored 26 points to lead the Jazz; Thurl Bailey added 21, and Darrell Griffith had 20.

Gary Grant scored 17 points for the Clippers and Quintin Dailey 18.

The Clippers led at halftime, 56-47, thanks to a 15-5 run in the last 4:32 of the second quarter. Six players contributed points in that span.

Utah, which beat the Clippers, 117-98, Nov. 21 at Salt Lake City, did its part, too. The Jazz, in its second game with Jerry Sloan as coach after Frank Layden’s surprise resignation, went without a field goal for the final 5:44, getting only 7 free throws before intermission.

In all, the Clippers outscored the Jazz, 37-22, in the second quarter.

Danny Manning, coming off a career-high 24 points Thursday against Houston, had 11 points for the Clippers at halftime. Norm Nixon had 10.

Malone led all scorers going into the third quarter, with 17 points (9 on free throws). He also had 11 rebounds, even after sitting out a few minutes with a chipped front tooth, suffered after falling and hitting the floor while going for a rebound on his own missed free throw in the first quarter. The Clippers’ margin reached 11 points twice in the third quarter, at 72-61 on Dailey’s jumper and 74-63 on Benoit Benjamin’s slam dunk.

But this time, the end-of-period run belonged to Utah, which took advantage of the Clippers’ getting only 3 field goals in the last 4:01 to trail, 82-78, going into the fourth quarter.

Clipper Notes

Norm Nixon was rewarded for his 20-assist game Thursday, the first time he has reached that plateau in 266 outings, with a return to the bench. The start at point guard went to Gary Grant, back from his 1-game absence because of a sprained right ankle. Said Nixon, trying to deal strictly in the positive: “The only thing I can control is my own performance.” . . . The Clippers began the night with 2 players among the league leaders in field-goal percentage, Quintin Dailey seventh at 55.8% and Charles Smith ninth at 55.5%. Boston and Denver also have 2 players each in the top 10. . . . Joe Wolf has experimented with wearing goggles at practices and shoot-arounds, saying he will probably try them in future workouts while considering possible use in games.

When Miami was named Thursday as host of the 1990 All-Star game, it left Detroit, Washington and the Clippers as finalists for the 1991 game. A decision on that game is expected in February or March, according to Andrew Roeser, the Clippers’ executive vice president in charge of business operations and head of the team’s bid. This season’s game will be at Houston in February. . . . Like many around the league, Clipper Coach Gene Shue was surprised to hear Friday that Utah Coach Frank Layden had resigned. “There’s so much pressure in the league nowadays,” said Shue, in his 22nd season after 10 as a player. “It’s gotten a lot worse.”