Clippers Suffer Ejections, Dejection

SALT LAKE CITY â€”  Blame it on their inability to stay focused or simply their age.

For one half, the youthful Clippers matched the veteran Utah Jazz basket for basket, elbow for elbow and whine for whine Tuesday night. Then they came out for the third quarter.

Utah scored the first seven points of the second half and then showed the Clippers why experience means so much in the NBA by hammering home a 107-94 season-opening victory before 17,824, the lowest attendance for a game at Delta Center.

As expected, the ageless tandem of Karl Malone and John Stockton led the Jazz, who have won 28 home games in a row over the Clippers, including the playoffs. Malone had 34 points, six rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes. Stockton had 14 assists and 11 points in 32 minutes.

But what made the Clippers’ effort so bad was their attitude in losing. Frustrated by the officiating, the Clippers were called for five technical fouls in the second half and saw Lamar Odom and Michael Olowokandi ejected.

“The game is secondary if we are not going to . . . conduct ourselves in the right way,� Coach Alvin Gentry said.

“We’re pros and we have to act that way. It doesn’t matter what the officials are doing, or what the fans or what the other people on the floor are doing. We have to maintain our composure and have to play through all the adversity if we’re going to be a good team. It doesn’t matter how young you are or how inexperienced you are. That’s something you have to have.�

Odom and Olowokandi, two of the Clippers’ big guns this season, basically shot blanks all night and then were sent to the locker room early after emotional outbursts.

Odom had a forgettable game with only nine points and three assists in 18 minutes before being ejected midway through the third quarter and the Clippers behind by 20 points.

‘I deserved the first technical but not the second one,� said Odom, tossed from the game while sitting on the bench. “But there are going to be nights like this. They have Karl Malone and John Stockton and we’re the Clippers.�

Olowokandi had an even more forgettable night than Odom. Although he lasted a little longer--getting thrown out of the game midway through the fourth quarter for slamming Olden Polynice to the court--Olowokandi had six rebounds and four assists but he didn’t score in 17 minutes.

“A game like this defeats the purpose of what you do in training camp,� Olowokandi said. “You try and play aggressive defense and then you come out and they take that away from you. How are we supposed to play them? What happened between myself and Olden was unfortunate but . . . the officiating was terrible. Everyone knows the Utah Jazz is a very good team but at least give us an opportunity to compete with them and be aggressive.�

In losing for the 24th consecutive time at Delta Center, the Clippers played like the young inexperienced team they are. At times, they looked great, but the rest of the game they were mediocre at best.

Perhaps it was because the Clippers didn’t know any better but they didn’t take the court like a team that had not won at Utah since April 18, 1989. Especially rookie Darius Miles, who had a strong opening half in his first NBA regular-season game.

Matched up against crafty shooting guard John Starks, Miles was all over the floor making plays. He made both of his first-half, field-goal attempts for four points, grabbed five rebounds and added an assist and a blocked shot.

With point guard Jeff McInnis running the show, the Clippers did not play like an intimidated team over the first two quarters. McInnis had 15 of his team-high 20 points in the first half and spearheaded a tough Clipper defense that limited Utah to only a 50-46 halftime lead.

But in the third quarter, the Clippers’ short attention span took over. Utah limited the Clippers to only five field-goal attempts and outscored them, 22-6, over the first eight minutes of the quarter.

“If we came out in the third quarter like we started the game, maybe things would have been different,� Miles said. “They had me going at Starks early. But the second half was a different ballgame, a different story.�

After Utah took a 84-67 lead into the fourth quarter, the rest of the game was garbage time with the bright spot for the Clippers being Corey Maggette, who had 15 points and five rebounds in 16 second-half minutes.