NOTES : Even in Anaheim, Game Is ‘Mahvelous’ to Crystal

Actor Billy Crystal gave Sunday’s Clippers-Utah Jazz Western Conference quarterfinal playoff game his stamp of approval.

“I loved it,” Crystal said in the Clippers’ locker room after their 115-107 victory at the Anaheim Convention Center. “It was like a neighborhood game.”

Crystal is seemingly trying to be the Clippers’ No. 1 fan, similar to the role Jack Nicholson has for the Lakers. Crystal plans to attend Game 5 today at Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.

Announcer Ralph Lawler, who has been with the Clippers for all but one season since it moved to San Diego in 1978, said moving the game from the Sports Arena to the convention center was the most unusual thing ever to happen to the franchise.

“This is the wildest ever,” Lawler said. “It has the feeling of a preseason in terms of the setting, but it’s the most important game the team has ever played.”

Lawler said the site made no difference to him.

“It’s exciting to be here after waiting so long,” he said. The Clippers snapped an NBA record streak of 15 consecutive non-playoff seasons this year. “If we played in a school yard, I’d be thrilled to death.”

A random survey of ticket holders found no glitches caused by the site change.

“This is my exact seat in the Sports Arena,” Steve Fine said from his front-row seat. “The Clippers did an outstanding job considering everything and showed me a lot of class. I got a phone call (Saturday) from the Clippers’ staff and thought that was a class move. I don’t think the other L.A. team would have done that, because if you’re not a corporation or celebrity, over the years, the Lakers don’t treat you like a customer.”

Joe Moses, who sits near Fine, said: “The Clippers didn’t have to call everybody, because they had already sold the tickets. They should be commended for it.”

There was more of a split about where the team should play in the future, but no one believed the Clippers would make Orange County their full-time home.

“I think they should build a stadium above Union Station,” Fine said. “New York has it (Madison Square Garden sits atop Pennsylvania Station), you have the Metrorail going in and it’s going to be the hub of transportation.”

“They ain’t moving to Orange County,” said Moses, who lives in Woodland Hills. “(Owner Donald T.) Sterling is an inner-city kid. He loves basketball. This is a pearly-white community. It’s not mixed. It doesn’t represent basketball.”

“I’d love to see them play here, but I’ve read there’s no way that they’re even going to consider it, so I’m pessimistic about it,” said Gene Howard of Irvine.

Howard also doubts that an existing or an expansion NBA team would come to Anaheim.

“I think we could support an NBA team here, but not if we have to play against the Clippers and Lakers in the same basin,” he said.

Utah center Mark Eaton was the only one of the three players who had played on the high school or college levels in Orange County to see any action Sunday. Eaton, who played at Westminster High and Cypress College, had four points, four rebounds and three blocked shots in 33 minutes.

Bob Thornton, who played at Mission Viejo High, Saddleback College and UC Irvine and signed with the Jazz April 15, did not play. He played a total of five minutes in the first three games of the series.

LeRon Ellis, the former Mater Dei High standout now a Clipper rookie, also did not play. Ellis’ only playing time during the series was two minutes in Game 3.

The game was telecast nationally on cable’s Turner Network Television.

“It looked like a regular NBA game in a regular arena,” director Doug Freeman said. “No one at home would ever know the difference.”

The only difficulties Freeman reported were with the scoreboard and the 24-second clock, but he pointed out those problems can also occur in arenas regularly used in the NBA.

Convention center officials set up three large-screen TVs and more than 2,300 chairs in Hall C to accommodate ticket holders unable to find seats in the arena. The chairs were unused because the 7,400-seat arena was not filled. Attendance was announced at 7,148.