Clippers See It Slip Away

They got the break they needed, the shot they wanted.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, Bobby Simmons’ layup at the buzzer rolled off the rim Monday night and, almost disbelievingly, they walked slowly off the Delta Center floor, losers again in Utah, losers again on the road.

The Utah Jazz won, 87-86, even after Keith McLeod, 12 for 12 from the free-throw line to that point, missed two with 6.5 seconds to play.

Given one last chance, the Clippers took the rebound and raced up the floor, Rick Brunson on the attack, leading the charge. Nearing the basket, he bobbled the ball momentarily but maintained control and dumped it to Simmons.

Simmons, who had brought the Clippers to within a point of the Jazz with an arching three-point basket with 7.1 seconds left, went up for a layup.

The Clippers were on the verge of their third consecutive victory, their second in two nights after Sunday’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks. They were all but assured of pulling to within three games of the Lakers for the last playoff spot in the West.

But Simmons missed the shot.

“I was just a little bit too far under the basket to dunk it or anything like that,” said Simmons, who led the Clippers with 17 points but left the court glancing at his right hand, wondering how it had betrayed him at game’s end. “I just tried to put it as softly as I could off the glass and it rolled back out.”

Just like that, the Clippers fell short again on the road.

They’ve lost their last nine road games, seven by five points or fewer, and 19 of 21 since November. After failing to win any games outside Staples Center in December, they won one in January and one in February.

They have lost 31 of their last 32 games at Salt Lake City, two this season by a total of three points and five in a row since January 2003, and 27 of 28 in the Delta Center.

This one probably ranked among the most bitter because of the opportunity lost, especially with the Clippers playing their next four games at Staples Center, where they have won five in a row and seven of eight.

“We do a great job of executing down the stretch and give ourselves a chance to win, which is great,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said, “except that we’re too far into the season to have any moral victories or close calls of any kind.

“We’re in a playoff hunt, [and] we let this one slip away.”

The Jazz, last in the Northwest Division, played without Carlos Boozer, its leading scorer and rebounder, who is sidelined because of a foot injury.

But McLeod matched a career high with 18 points. And the Jazz came up bigger in the clutch. Utah didn’t score a second-chance point through the first three quarters, but led by reserve forward Kris Humphries, who pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds, the Jazz took six of its 12 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and scored seven second-chance points. None was more important than a three-point play by Mehmet Okur with 21.7 seconds left, ending a nearly 60-second possession.

That made the score 85-81.

“I need the same effort on the defensive boards as I’m getting on the offensive boards,” a disappointed Dunleavy said afterward. “It’s not all about scoring. Defense is what wins games at this level. Playoff [basketball] is about getting defensive boards, locking down people defensively.

“It’s not how many points you score, not the stats you get. And that’s what this team has got to learn. Right now we don’t have that mentality, we don’t have that understanding, to my liking.”

Said Elton Brand: “It seemed like they wanted it a little bit more than we did, and it can’t be like that. It’s the homestretch for us.”