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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- John Stockton admits the Utah Jazz have
struggled at home this season. He's quick to add that it doesn't
mean anything now.
Karl Malone scored 34 points and Stockton had nine of his 12 in
the fourth quarter as the Jazz rallied for a 97-92 victory over the
Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
The victory secured the No. 4 seed and first-round home-court
advantage in the Western Conference playoffs for the Jazz, who will
meet the Dallas Mavericks starting this weekend.
"It's still important," Stockton said when asked about having
home-court advantage. "It doesn't guarantee anything, but it's good
to have."
However, playing at home might not be such a good thing for
Utah.
The Jazz have struggled at home this season, losing nine of
their last 10 in the Delta Center against teams bound for the
playoffs. And this time it was the Clippers taking Utah to the
wire, not the Lakers, Kings or Spurs.
"We had a difficult time with them," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan
said. "I don't think people realize how difficult they are to
play. They have so many guys who can put the ball on the floor and
beat you off the dribble."
The Jazz end the regular season Wednesday night in Phoenix, so
their next home game will be against the Mavericks. Stockton said
it's time to forget what's happened at home up to this point.
"The good thing now is that they're all behind us," he said.
"Now we get to start fresh. We're fortunate that we don't have to
think about those things anymore."
Lamar Odom, held to three points at halftime, finished with 19
but fouled out with 3:10 to play after colliding on defense with
Bryon Russell.
"Bryon Russell comes running into me. He did a little acting
job and got the foul," Odom said, breaking into a smile. "None of
my fouls were on-the-ball, aggressive defensive fouls."
When Odom went to the bench, he took his scoring with him. He
also picked up a technical foul for laughing about the call and the
Jazz used the sequence to turn an 81-80 deficit into an 82-81 lead.
"If he would have just let me go, he would have been all
right," Russell said.
Jeff McInnis scored to give the Clippers an 87-86 lead with 1:54
remaining, but Stockton found Danny Manning cutting into the lane
and then dished to Russell for a 3-pointer to put the Jazz ahead
for good.
"I don't know how many times Bryon Russell has stuck a dagger
into people from that corner," Clippers center Sean Rooks said.
Utah's 91-87 lead was safe. Eric Piatkowski missed an open
3-pointer but collected his own rebound, then put up a runner in
the lane. Malone got a finger on it, the Jazz got the rebound and
held on in the final minute.
"Going into this season we believed in ourselves, but a lot of
people didn't. ... To win 53 games is a credit to those guys in the
locker room, the coaching staff. It was a great win," Malone said.
Utah barely avoided finishing the regular season with 14 home
defeats.
That hasn't happened since 1985-86, when Malone was a rookie and
Los Angeles rookie Darius Miles was 4½. The Clippers haven't won in
Salt Lake City since 1989, losing 24 in a row in the Delta Center
and the old Salt Palace.
McInnis scored 20 points to lead Los Angeles, which had won
three in a row.
Russell scored 12 and Manning and Donyell Marshall each had 11
for the Jazz.
The Jazz scored the game's first 12 points, but Los Angeles
closed to 47-44 at the break. After two free throws by McInnis,
the Clippers led 63-58 with 1:44 to go in the third.
Odom closed the period with a three-point play for a 68-64 lead.
Russell's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim at the horn, and an
anxious feeling settled over the arena as the Jazz trailed 68-64
entering the final period.
Game notes
For much of the first half, the shot clock at the Clippers'
end of the floor malfunctioned, causing a few breaks in play while
crews tried to fix it. ... The average NBA experience on the
Clippers' roster is 3.8 years. Utah's average is 9.4 years. ...
Stockton had nine assists, putting him at 14,501 during his 17-year
career. He's the NBA's career leader in that category.
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NBA Scoreboard
LA Clippers Clubhouse
Utah Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 94
Detroit 92
Atlanta 122
Washington 119
Miami 91
Milwaukee 89
Chicago 100
New Jersey 94
Philadelphia 111
Indiana 105
Houston 114
Minnesota 87
Utah 97
LA Clippers 92
San Antonio 99
Portland 93
LA Lakers 108
Denver 91
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