Jazz dominate 4th, keep Clippers winless
October 31, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)—The Utah Jazz’s preseason pledge to improve defensivelylooked forgotten until late in the third quarter of their home opener.
The Jazz tightened up the defense to trigger a 15-0 run, then held the LosAngeles Clippers to 14 points in the final period of a 111-98 victory on Fridaynight.
Utah’s home opener was in danger with the Jazz trailing by as much as sixbefore they finally stopped trying to just outscore the Clippers and actuallyshut them down.
“We didn’t play much defense in the first three quarters of this game, thenturned it on in the fourth,” said Deron Williams(notes), who had 21 points and nineassists for the Jazz. “We’ve got to have it for the full 48 minutes. There’s noexcuses.”
Utah Jazz forward Carlos Booze… AP – Oct 30, 11:47 pm EDT Los Angeles Clippers head coac… AP – Oct 30, 11:33 pm EDT
Utah Jazz forward Carlos Booze… AP – Oct 30, 11:30 pm EDT
Los Angeles Clippers forward A… AP – Oct 30, 11:15 pm EDT
Los Angeles Clippers center Ch… AP – Oct 30, 10:48 pm EDT
Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kiril… AP – Oct 30, 10:47 pm EDT
Los Angeles Clippers guard Bar… AP – Oct 30, 10:37 pm EDT
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Paul Millsap(notes) led the Jazz with 23 points, scoring 14 in the final periodwhile leading the Jazz in a rally that quickly put away the winless Clippers.
Carlos Boozer(notes) had 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, Andrei Kirilenko(notes)added seven assists and Kyrylo Fesenko(notes) scored 10 points in his second careerstart.
Scoring was never a problem for the Jazz, but stopping the Clipperscertainly was until midway through the second half. Los Angeles went just 3 for11 from the floor in the final quarter, never recovering after Utah followed a5-0 run at the end of the third with 10 straight points to start the fourth.
“That’s what we need to see more out of us,” Millsap said. “We’re capableof doing that night in and night out. We need to continue to execute and getstops on the defensive end.”
Eric Gordon(notes) scored 22, and Baron Davis(notes) and Chris Kaman(notes) added 21 pointsapiece for the Clippers, who fell to 0-3.
“I think it was three quarters of good basketball for us,” Kaman said.“The fourth quarter obviously was a struggle. They kind of took it to us.”
Ronnie Brewer(notes) added 17 points as the Jazz avoided their first 0-2 startsince 2002.
The Jazz outrebounded the Clippers 48-35, with Millsap pulling down seven ofhis nine boards in the second half as Utah overcame a sluggish start in its homeopener despite having only 10 available players because of injuries.
“Millsap came in and gave them a big lift in that second half,” Clipperscoach Mike Dunleavy said. “He really hurt us.”
Utah scored five straight points to pull within 84-83 at the end of thethird, then opened the fourth on a 10-0 run. Millsap hit a jumper, then drew afoul on the next possession and made both free throws.
Brewer then took over with a layup, followed by a steal that he took all theway to the other end for a dunk to put the Jazz up 91-84 with 10:23 left in thegame.
The Clippers went without a field goal in the fourth quarter until AlThornton’s(notes) layup on a three-point play with 6:26 left in the game cut it to95-90.
The Jazz scored the next six after a timeout, then Millsap snuffed a layupattempt by Davis with 3:55 left. He added a jumper in the lane to put Utah up106-92 with 3:30 to go.
“He scores in bunches,” Williams said. “He’s one of those guys that getshot and starts feeling it. He did that at the right time tonight.”
The Jazz were handcuffed by fouls in the first half and played soft defense,allowing the Clippers to tie it at 60 on Gordon’s three-point play with a secondremaining in the second period.
Utah stayed out of foul trouble early in the third, but the defense wasn’tany better for the first few minutes. Davis took a steal in for a layup, thengot another layup off an inbounds play during a 10-4 run that put the Clippersup 80-74 with about three minutes left in the period. Boozer was several feetoff with an airball during Utah’s dry spell, which got many boos from the homefans.
The Jazz recovered in the final few minutes of the quarter, drawing within84-83 on Millsap’s three-point play with 1.2 seconds left.
Notes: Fesenko started for C Mehmet Okur(notes), who sat out the game with asprained ankle. … The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang a stirring rendition of thenational anthem before the game. … The Jazz exercised their third-year optionon center Kosta Koufos(notes), their 2008 first-round draft pick. … The Clippers are1-35 at EnergySolutions Arena, originally known as the Delta Center.
