It’s Getting Old for Clippers: Malone, Jazz Unstoppable

If the Utah Jazz continues to shoot as it did against the Clippers on Sunday night, Karl Malone and John Stockton may finally get their championship rings.

According to Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry, all Utah did was shoot the heck out of the ball against his team, and he’s right. The Jazz made 64.9% of its shots in the first half and 57.9% for the game in crushing the Clippers, 111-96, before a sellout crowd of 19,292 at Staples Center.

Malone had 34 points to lead the way for the Jazz, which has won nine in a row over the Clippers. With the Clippers forcing Utah to the perimeter, Malone gladly accepted the extra space they gave him by making 13 of 18 field goals, with most of them coming on jump shots.

“Malone is a real good inside player, so teams try to shut down his inside game,” Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said. “But, luckily he has changed his game and made himself a better outside shooter and tonight that was evident.”

But Malone wasn’t alone in knocking down shots. You knew it was Utah’s night when brickmaster center Olden Polynice made two of three jumpers and backup point guard Jacque Vaughn made four of six from the field, including two acrobatic layups in traffic.

The Lamar Odom-less Clippers actually didn’t play too badly. They finished with six players scoring at least 12 points and made 53.3% of their shots, including four of eight three-point attempts.

Their play, however, wasn’t good enough to match up against Utah’s crusty veterans.

“It was comical [watching the Jazz play],” said rookie point guard Keyon Dooling, who had 13 points and four assists in 27 minutes. “They were like a computer. It was like how they execute on Dreamcast. It was just beautiful to see basketball played like that.”

Malone started off smoking, making his first three jumpers and seven of his first nine shots. He had 18 points at halftime and then added 12 more in the third quarter. After having one of the worst stretch of games in his career earlier in the season, Malone is starting to get his rhythm at the right time--with the playoffs right around the corner.

“He’s been this way for 17 years and I’ve just been lucky to watch him play,” said Sloan, who coached in his 1,000th regular-season game with Utah. “He’s done it year in and year out. I’ve always said that he may not have won a championship but he keeps coming back and tries to do everything he can [the next season]. I don’t know what more you can ask. The criticism is still going to be there but the idea that you’re tough enough to fight back through all of those things is the most important thing you can do in sports, in my opinion.”

With Odom sitting out the final game of a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug program, the best chance the Clippers had of making a game of it came in the final 40 seconds of the second quarter.

Utah led by eight points when Eric Piatkowski missed a three-point attempt and the Jazz followed with consecutive three-pointers to take a 59-45 lead into the half.

“It was a tough night because you know they are going to go to Karl Malone an awful lot,” Piatkowski said. “He shot the ball better than he’s been shooting as of late. He shot the ball fantastically tonight. But everyone on their team shot lights out.

“There were plenty of plays when we played great defense and they would hit shots when the [24-second clock] was down. . . . If you combine a team that plays that smart and doesn’t turn the ball over or make many mistakes, then throw in the fact that they seem to make any shot they take, it’s tough to beat.”

The Clippers were led by Corey Maggette, who finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Rookie Darius Miles had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeff McInnis added 14 points and nine assists.

Maggette and McInnis, however, finished the game on the bench because of injuries. Maggette has a left ankle sprain and McInnis a bruised left knee. Both are listed as day-to-day.