Clippers Win Praise, but Lose Game

Say what you will about the Clippers, Utah Jazz star Karl Malone says, they always give an honest effort.

“Give those guys credit,” Malone said. “They do play hard. They play hard the whole game.”

Hard does not necessarily mean better, however, as the Jazz proved Wednesday night by erasing a halftime deficit en route to a 118-109 victory before a crowd of 19,911 behind Malone’s 29 points and Adam Keefe’s nine fourth-quarter points, including five during a decisive 9-0 run.

“I’d like to take credit, but I can’t make layups or dunks without the ball,” said Keefe, who scored 13 points while celebrating his 25th birthday. “There’s just some very unselfish players on this team.”

Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan praised Keefe’s recent play after the Jazz victory.

“Adam played very well for us,” Sloan said. “He’s probably been one of our most consistent guys.”

After Pooh Richardson’s jumper cut Utah’s lead to 97-96 with 7:43 left, Keefe and Malone combined for all nine of Utah’s points during the key run. Keefe had five points and Malone four during the spurt.

Jeff Hornacek added 22 points for Utah and John Stockton finished with 20 points and 15 assists.

Richardson and Loy Vaught led the Clippers with 21 points apiece. Eric Piatkowski and Malik Sealy each added 18 points.

Stockton had five points, two assists and a steal as Utah went on a 13-2 run to open the third quarter.

That spurt erased a 64-57 halftime lead by the Clippers.

They led, 47-34, after Lamond Murray scored a basket and added a free throw with 7:13 left in the second quarter.

Malone scored four points and Keefe two as Utah went on an 8-0 run to close to 49-44 with 4:42 remaining in the half.

Utah stayed within four points for several minutes, but Vaught scored with 36 seconds to play and Randy Woods made a three-point basket with 4.7 seconds remaining to build the Clipper lead to 64-55.

“Sometimes, when we play teams that don’t have a great record, we tend to just shoot quick, not execute our plays and we almost sit around too much,” Hornacek said of Utah’s slow start.

Utah shot 61 percent from the field and had a 40-33 rebounding edge.