Clippers Take a Licking

The Clippers received a warm welcome from the Delta Center fans when they ran onto the court to open their first-round NBA playoff series against the Utah Jazz.

“Welcome Clippers!” a sign read. “We need the practice for round two.”

The Jazz, which has won 14 consecutive regular-season games against the Clippers, then easily disposed of them, 106-86, Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 19,911.

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch emerged from the locker room to meet the press, turned his back to the wall and said, “Give me a blindfold, I’ll take it this way.”

All-star forward Karl Malone, who hopes to deliver the Jazz its first NBA championship, had 27 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Clipper guard Brent Barry said. “We might have to hire Jeff Gilooley to take out Malone.”

With the crowd chanting “MVP, MVP, MVP,” Malone, who’s likely to finish second to Michael Jordan in the most-valuable-player balloting, made 13 of 27 shots as the Jazz took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Forward Rodney Rogers, who played a key role as the Clippers earned their first playoff berth since 1993, left the game at the start of the third quarter because of an ankle injury.

Rogers returned in the final quarter but wasn’t a factor, missing six of eight shots and getting five points, one rebound and two assists in 21 minutes.

“Rodney didn’t give us the points after he got hurt and that was a factor,” Fitch said. “He’s going to be hurting a little bit tomorrow, but he’s come back strong after injuries.”

Center Lorenzen Wright missed nine of 12 shots and had six points and nine rebounds in 35 minutes.

Fitch put the Clippers through three days of rigorous practices to prepare them to face the Jazz, which has reached the Western Conference finals three of the last five seasons. It paid off as the Clippers, who have the worst record of any playoff team, weren’t embarrassed in the first three quarters.

Most teams wait at least until the end of the game to drop balloons, but the Jazz, which won a franchise-record 64 games, released balloons before the game to celebrate its fourth Midwest Division title.

“We’re not in awe, but we know that this is is a great basketball team we’re playing,” Fitch said, “and to get the job done we’ve got to play a great game.”

Fitch had hinted that he might change his starting lineup after guards Malik Sealy and Darrick Martin failed to score in Saturday’s season-ending 25-point loss at Seattle, but he went with the same lineup.

Martin, who scored a career-high 38 points in a 14-point win over the Jazz on Dec. 30 at the Sports Arena, took home a videotape of that game and a game in which he was outplayed by Stockton.

Martin must have learned something, because he got off to a good start.

He made four of his first five shots and had 11 points in the first quarter before going to the bench after drawing his third foul with 42.3 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

But Martin, who drew his fourth foul two minutes into the third quarter, played only three minutes in the final three quarters and didn’t score.

“I think [getting into foul trouble] probably affected him more,” Fitch said. “I should have put up a sign saying ‘stay in until you get six.’

“We have to find four other guys that will come out on fire and hit some shots. I couldn’t remember us making two in a row from outside besides him. Credit their defense. We just fired the shooting coach.”

Stockton, the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals, had 13 points, 17 assists and seven rebounds.

Clipper forward Loy Vaught, who had the toughest assignment, checking Malone, got 20 points and 11 rebounds.

The Clippers, who trailed, 40-26, used a 22-8 run in a seven-minute second-quarter spurt to tie it at 48-48 on a layup by Eric Piatkowski. But the Jazz ended the second quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 54-48 halftime lead.

“It was only a matter of time until we help self-destruct ourselves,” Fitch said.

And they imploded in the final quarter, missing 11 of 16 shots as they were outscored, 26-18, and the Jazz pulled away.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CLIPPERS vs. UTAH JAZZ

* Game 1: Utah 106, Clippers 86

* Game 2: Saturday at Utah, 5:30

* Game 3: Mon., Sports Arena, 7:30

* Game 4: Wed., Sports Arena, TBA*

* Game 5: May 4 at Utah, TBA*

* if necessary

THURSDAY’S GAMES

* Miami 99, Orlando 64

* Ney York 109, Charlotte 99

* Houston 112, Minnesota 95

* ROUNDUP: C7

* NOTES: C7