NBA PLAYOFFS : New Ballgame for Clippers : Western Conference: The Jazz will be tough enough, but playoff intensity might make things even tougher.

As playoff novices, the Clippers get their indoctrination tonight when they face increased intensity, the frenzy of a noisy arena and Karl Malone and John Stockton all at once.

If the mental aspects don’t get to them, then the Clippers will have to worry only about the Utah Jazz, champions of the Midwest Division, when the best-of-five series opens at the Delta Center (7:30 p.m. PDT, Channel 13, TNT).

Four Clipper starters have never been in the playoffs, where play becomes more conservative, more intense and more physical. Said Ron Harper, the one who has: “When you get to the postseason, it’s a different feeling. It’s a five-game series. It’s whoever puts the best three games together is going to win.

“You have to be focused. If you’re not focused, you’re going to be out of here early. I know. I went home after the first round two years in a row.”

That was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, in 1988 and 1989. Ken Norman, who has the most seniority among current Clippers, was a rookie in 1988. Danny Manning was winning the NCAA championship with Larry Brown at Kansas then.

“Eighty-two games were just a preliminary, trying to set yourself up in the best position,” said Danny Young, who reached the finals with Portland in 1990 and is in the playoffs for the sixth time. “But you’re playing for an NBA championship. You play a team five or seven games straight, so guys get to know what you do, and you have to take your game to another level.

“Until you get there, you don’t know exactly what it’s going to be like. Guys can tell you. But until you get in there and start banging around--the officials let you play harder and play more physical--it’s tough to describe.”

Some of the Clippers will try. At a players’ meeting before practice Monday morning, Young, James Edwards and Doc Rivers addressed their teammates about what to expect. Thursday afternoon, Brown gave the veterans the platform again.

They talked about being tougher, how the calls they got from officials during the regular season won’t come, especially against physical players such as Karl Malone.

They talked about emotions, about not getting too down after being on the wrong end of a 12-0 run or too high after doing the same.

Most will realize this later tonight.

“You can’t (understand it),” said Rivers, a playoff participant for six seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before coming to the Clippers last summer. “I think you can perform well without ever being in it, but I don’t think you can appreciate what you’re going through until you’ve been in it.

“It’s far more physical. Every possession is more important. The things you were doing well in the regular season and getting away with, you won’t in the playoffs because they (opponents) will find out what they are and exploit them. And that’s what we have to do on the other hand, find out some of their weaknesses and exploit them. The team that adjusts the most wins.”

The Clippers, playing as well as any team in the league a month ago, lost three of their last four regular-season games and are looking for any advantage. So, from where they sit, inexperience and being the underdog is an advantage because they can play loose. The pressure, they say, is on the Jazz.

The contrast is obvious. Not only is Utah a veteran team, but it is a playoff-tested group with few changes from last season. That’s when the Jazz opened by beating Phoenix and then gave a commendable effort before losing to Portland in the second round.

The series opens with two games at the Delta Center, where the Jazz has the league’s best regular-season home record at 37-4, including 2-0 against the Clippers. Then it moves to Los Angeles, where the teams split two games.

“The one thing we have to do is get ourselves physically and mentally ready to play,” Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said. “That’s all you can do. As far as understanding what they (the Clippers) might do, we have to understand what we want to do. That’s the most important thing for any team.”

The Clippers, playoff greenhorns that they are, say they understand what is ahead. There’s no predicting the emotions of tonight, but trepidation doesn’t figure to be one of them.

“I’m glad it’s finally here,” Norman said. “I think all of us were hoping to start Thursday, but maybe we will learn something by watching those first games on TV. We’re ready to go do some work.”

Clipper Notes

The Jazz beat the Clippers, 106-101, at the Sports Arena in the only meeting since Larry Brown was hired. The Clippers led, 81-75, heading into the fourth quarter, but were then outscored, 31-20. . . . Karl Malone averaged 28 points, 12.5 rebounds and shot 56.5% in the four games against the Clippers, and John Stockton averaged 16.5 points, 13.5 assists and 3.25 steals. . . . Brown responding to the idea that veterans, especially superstars, get the breaks from officials during the playoffs: “I don’t like to get into that. That’s not fair to officials. But they respect players like Malone and Stockton. They’ve been there before. They’re stars. They’re viewed a different way. But that’s not our problem. We’ve just got to play.”