Game 28: Saturday night at Arrowhead PondTalk about playing down to competition. The Jazz played the undisputed worst team in the NBA on Saturday night -- and appeared to have taken over the Clippers' role in the league.
Utah was awful. Sure, team leader Karl Malone was tossed from the game early in the second half -- but that's not why the Jazz lost to the lowly Clips. Utah was down by 21 when Malone was ejected. If anything, the ejection gave the Jazz a little bit of added life for a few minutes.
The Jazz were, no doubt, tired entering the game. It was their sixth road game in the last seven and it came on the heels of a victory in Vancouver on Friday night when the Jazz didn't get to their hotel rooms until 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. But the Clips had a nearly identical trip the night before. They played -- and lost a heart-breaker -- at Seattle on Friday night.
Even with the understandable fatigue, there is no excuse for the lack of effort the Jazz showed in the first quarter. The Jazz didn't even play their usual strong defense, giving up 32 points -- tying for the most they've surrendered in a quarter this year. Meanwhile, their offense was anemic, as they managed only 13 points, shooting 26 percent from the field as a team.
The Jazz now have to just put the debacle behind them -- or it will be repeated on Tuesday in Sacramento against a much better team than the one that waxed them on Saturday. -- Loren Jorgensen
RECORDS: Jazz (21-7); Clippers (3-24)
NEXT UP: Jazz at Sacramento, Tuesday 8:30 p.m. at Arco Arena, Fox Sports (cable)
1st
2nd
Clippers 32 Clippers 20
Jazz 13 Jazz 19
Olowokandi 9 pts. Anderson 7 pts.
3rd
4th
Clippers 27 Clippers 24
Jazz 22 Jazz 23
Malone ejected Vaughn 10 pts.
FG FT Reb
UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Russell 27 2-6 1-2 0-3 0 3 6
Malone 21 1-7 5-5 2-5 1 1 7
Ostertag 19 1-3 2-2 2-3 0 2 4
Stockton 15 2-5 0-0 0-1 3 3 4
Hornacek 23 4-10 1-1 1-4 3 2 10
Eisley 20 1-8 1-2 0-1 3 2 3
Foster 24 0-3 2-4 2-8 3 2 2
Anderson 25 3-6 2-3 3-6 0 1 8
Keefe 21 3-6 1-2 0-3 0 2 7
Bailey 14 3-5 0-0 1-1 0 1 6
Fuller 18 5-8 0-0 0-1 0 2 10
Vaughn 13 3-4 4-4 0-0 1 0 10
Totals 240 28-71 19-25 11-36 14 21 77
Percentages: FG .394, FT .760. 3-Point Goals: 2-6, .333 (Russell 1-2, Hornacek 1-2, Eisley 0-1, Stockton 0-1). Team Rebounds: 8. Blocked Shots: 2 (Ostertag, Fuller). Turnovers: 21 (Hornacek 4, Anderson 3, Bailey 3, Ostertag 2, Eisley 2, Malone 2, Foster 2, Russell, Stockton, Vaughn). Steals: 9 (Russell 3, Keefe 2, Eisley, Hornacek, Foster, Fuller). Technical Fouls: Malone, 3.2 second; Malone, 9:44 third; Coach Sloan, 9:44 third. Ejected: Malone, 9:44 third. Illegal Defense: None.
FG FT Reb
L.A. Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Nesby 39 5-8 5-5 2-7 4 6 16
Taylor 13 6-8 0-1 0-0 0 4 12
Olowokandi 35 6-11 3-4 2-13 0 1 15
Martin 25 2-9 0-0 0-0 4 3 5
Piatkowski 32 2-8 12-13 1-3 0 3 18
Wright 23 2-9 2-2 4-8 0 5 6
Hudson 23 4-5 0-0 2-3 3 1 8
Skinner 23 2-6 2-2 0-3 0 2 6
Murray 24 7-13 1-1 4-7 0 3 15
Closs 3 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 240 36-78 27-30 15-44 11 28 103
Percentages: FG .462, FT .900. 3-Point Goals: 4-10, .400 (Piatkowski 2-3, Nesby 1-2, Martin 1-3, Murray 0-1, Wright 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 5 (Skinner 4, Olowokandi). Turnovers: 16 (Olowokandi 4, Hudson 4, Murray 3, Nesby 2, Wright, Piatkowski, Martin). Steals: 12 (Nesby 3, Olowokandi 3, Piatkowski 2, Murray, Wright, Martin, Hudson). Technical Fouls: None. Illegal Defense: None.
A--14,293 (16,021). T--2:06.
Officials--Ron Garretson, Tom Washington, Bennie Adams.