Clippers Just Don’t Get Jazz

Elton Brand slumped in a chair in front of his locker late Friday night at Staples Center. Slowly, he pulled on one sock and then the other, never taking his eyes off a final box score resting on the floor near his feet.

Brand knew full well that the Clippers had just let a game slip from their grasp. After all, he had participated in their dreary 102-86 loss to the Utah Jazz before a dispirited crowd of 16,130.

Figuring out precisely how and why it all went wrong for the Clippers in the pivotal fourth quarter was difficult for Brand to put into one concise sentence.

The Clippers’ meltdown partly had to do with a total collapse of momentum, smarts and skills in the final quarter. But a big part of it was their inability to muzzle Utah forwards Karl Malone and Donyell Marshall, who each scored 29 points.

“Once we got the lead in the third quarter, they took it back,” Brand said after the Clippers lost their 12th consecutive against Utah. “We got up nine and they fought harder, then they really took off. We went flat once we lost the lead. They ran their [offensive] sets and found the open man.

“Donyell Marshall scored 29 points. All on layups or dunks. Well, I think there might have been one jump shot in there. We have a tough time playing against a team that executes that well.”

In the final analysis, the Clippers (9-10) were simply picked-and-rolled by the more disciplined Jazz.

Malone kept the Jazz close in the third quarter, scoring 13 points and helping to erase a nine-point deficit. He would leave the game midway through the fourth quarter because of a hyperextended right knee. Marshall then helped to turn a tight game into a runaway, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter.

The score was tied, 67-67, heading into the fourth, but the Jazz went on a 19-7 run to start the quarter. Soon enough, Utah led, 88-74, after Marshall made a free throw with 6:12 left.

The Clippers never countered and Coach Alvin Gentry cleared the bench with a little more than three minutes to go.

“The bottom line is that we didn’t play very good,” Gentry said. “They were just quicker. They executed well against us and once they got a lead, they made it very difficult on us. I thought we would have more energy and get the game going up and down.”

Never happened--at least not for extended minutes.

The Clippers led by 23-20 after one quarter, built a 10-point lead in the second, but were caught, 42-42, by halftime. They led by nine points in the third, but Utah rallied for a 69-67 lead after three.

“We just didn’t execute or do a good job of keeping the game under control,” Gentry said. “We did all the things that will cause you to lose to a veteran team.”

Other than another steady game from Brand, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds, the Clippers did plenty of things to let Utah hang close until it was time to pounce to start the fourth quarter.

By night’s end, the Clippers’ streak of limiting opponents to fewer than 100 points was history after six games. Their streak of holding the opposition to less than 40% shooting also ended with the Jazz making 34 of 83 shots (41%).

Plus, there was the woeful shooting of Clipper guards Jeff McInnis and Quentin Richardson, who were perhaps due for a clunker. McInnis made only seven of 19 shots for 14 points; Richardson made one of nine and one of two free throws for three points.

The Clippers’ biggest problem was their defense, however.

“It seemed like we had their pick and roll figured out,” Brand said. “But they knew how to pick us apart. They are a veteran ballclub. They find the mismatch and they find the open player.”

In the second half, that player usually was Malone or Marshall. Malone made a layup and a free throw after Lamar Odom fouled him 16 seconds into the fourth quarter. Malone then made a 16-foot jumper for a 73-67 lead and Utah was off and running, winning consecutive games for the first time this season.

“They don’t have a great record,” Brand said, referring to Utah’s 8-11 mark. “But they’re still a good team.”