Clippers Try to Keep Their Cool

Since the start of training camp, new Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry has tried to convince his team that turning things around for the franchise is going to take time. With five players under 21, he has emphasized professionalism as much as fundamentals.

Against the Utah Jazz in the season opener Tuesday night at Salt Lake City, the Clippers didn’t do too poorly when it came to basketball but failed miserably when it came to conduct.

In their 13-point loss, they allowed their emotions to get the best of them. They picked up five technical fouls and had starters Lamar Odom and Michael Olowokandi ejected. It was not a glowing performance for a franchise trying to shed its losing image.

Nor was it easy for Gentry to watch.

“I’ll take them out of the game,” said Gentry on Wednesday about what will happen if a Clipper blows up in another game this season.

“We’ve already talked about that. It will all depend on the situation in [determining how long they will sit], but I told them there has to be a consequence for acting that way.”

He didn’t try to hide his disappointment with Odom, the Clippers’ 20-year-old captain.

Gentry said he understands the second-year pro is still maturing.

“Change is very tough, and it is not going to happen overnight,” Gentry said. “It’s going to be a process the whole year.”

Odom said he has had more than one talk with Gentry about controlling his emotions.

“Coach told me to keep my composure a little more and that it is going to be a long season--also that it is going to get rough especially in some spots,” said Odom, who had only nine points in 18 minutes at Utah. He was ejected in the third quarter for talking back to officials.

“We know that we’re not going to be the beneficiary of calls,” he said.

“We have to take games away from other teams. . . . We have to be on our ‘A’ game on the court but also mentally if we’re going to be successful this season.

“I’m an emotional player and I just got caught up in the game and what was happening. . . . I can’t let that happen. They need me on the court at all times. We cut the lead down to nine and I was in the locker room. I need a lot more poise.”

He gets to test his poise again tonight, when the Clippers play the Vancouver Grizzlies in their home opener at Staples Center.

After Tuesday’s loss to the Jazz, Odom criticized the game’s officials, claiming they favored Utah veteran players John Stockton and Karl Malone when it came to close calls. On Wednesday, he didn’t seem too worried about getting fined by the league.

“I’m concerned but not drastically concerned,” he said.

“I just don’t want to get myself labeled as one of those guys who always get [technicals]. . . . I’m not like that at all. I don’t want people to look at me in a certain way because of what happened [against Utah].

“I have to do things on the court to try and change that.”

For Olowokandi, who didn’t score but picked up five fouls in 17 minutes against the Jazz, his story is the same.

After becoming frustrated because of the lack of calls made in his favor, he was thrown out of the game midway through the fourth quarter for slamming Utah center Olden Polynice to the court.

“Most of Michael’s stuff comes out of frustration because he can’t seem to stay on the floor due to foul trouble,” Gentry said.

‘That gets annoying to him, I’m sure. He has to find a way to channel all of that somewhere else.”

Not getting calls is something Olowokandi said he should be used to by now. After consecutive foul-plagued seasons, Olowokandi said he let his teammates down.

“I know it’s a cliche but we have to play together and stick together,” he said.

“After what happened [at Utah], we have to put that to rest. . . . We have to take care of Vancouver now. We can’t fragment when things are not going our way.”

That’s something the Clippers will start trying to change tonight.