Oh Well, Nobody’s Perfect: Clippers’ Rally Falls Short

After defeating the Golden State Warriors in their season opener Friday night, the Clippers were jolted back to reality by the Utah Jazz, losing their home opener, 95-90, Saturday night before an announced crowd of 13,041 at the Sports Arena.

If you were expecting the drama of Shaquille O’Neal’s Laker debut Friday night, you had to settle for the debut of the Sports Arena’s new video boards and a pregame laser show.

During one telling sequence, reserve Clipper center Stanley Roberts missed a dunk over Jazz center Greg Ostertag and Karl Malone dunked off the resulting fastbreak in the third quarter as the Clippers fell behind by 15 points (78-63) going into the final period.

The Clipper reserves, who were instrumental in Friday night’s victory over the Warriors, played a key role as the Clippers cut the Jazz lead to three points in the final quarter.

Coach Bill Fitch went with reserves Terry Dehere, Lamond Murray and Charles Outlaw and the move paid off as the Clippers cut it to 91-85 when Murray, who had nine points, made two free throws with 2:45 left.

After Malone missed two free throws with 2:28 remaining, forward Loy Vaught, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds, made a jumper with 2:07 left to make it 91-88. The Clippers had a chance to move to within one after Byron Russell missed a jumper, but Vaught rushed a shot to beat the 24-second clock and didn’t draw iron.

After John Stockton missed a layup, the Jazz did the smart thing and intentionally fouled Outlaw, one of the NBA’s worst free throw shooters, with 48 seconds remaining and he missed two free throws.

Stockton made a layup and a free throw after Outlaw didn’t produce as the Jazz held off the Clippers.

Dehere said he was effective because he was rested.

“Basically, we’re coming into the game with [fresh] legs and we’re able to make a push like that,” said Dehere, who had five points in the third quarter.

The Clippers, who have failed to sign Brian Williams, didn’t get much production from centers Kevin Duckworth and Roberts.

Duckworth, starting his second consecutive game, had four points and four rebounds and Roberts had eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes as a reserve.

The Clippers were coming off a victory over the Warriors, but the Jazz, who have advanced to the NBA Western Conference finals three times in the last five years, are a much more solid team than Golden State.

Although the Jazz have new uniforms, they’re still relying on the same old deliberate offensive style that centers around Malone and Stockton.

Malone had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Stockton had nine points and seven assists as the Jazz won their second game in as many nights.

Vaught said the Jazz is a veteran team that plays well together.

“I knew coming in that it was going to be a long night,” Vaught said. “Malone and Stockton have played together for so long and they just execute. You kind of know what’s coming, but still . . .

“These guys took the life out of us tonight and they made us labor to get everything. It was frustrating because they’d be making cuts and finding each other with tough passes. We’d be thinking that we were playing good defense and they were breaking us down.”

Russell added 16 points and Jeff Hornacek had 15 points for the Jazz. Guard Malik Sealy had a team-high 19 points as the Clippers failed to reach the 100-point mark for the second consecutive night.