Harpring, help and starts

LOS ANGELES – Matt Harpring missed shootaround this morning due to stomach issues – gastric distress, according to the team – and Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was taking a don’t-hold-your approach regarding the veteran reserve forward’s availability status for tonight’s Game 2 of Utah’s first-round NBA playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We’ll just wait and see if he’s able to play when we get to the game, I guess,” Sloan said.

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Sloan made a point this morning to say that the Jazz weren’t intending to double Kobe Bryant, or any of the Lakers, in Game 1. But they were supposed to offer help defense inside, and he didn’t think they did a very good job of it.
“You learned all your life playing basketball, if the ball goes inside, you try to help to keep them from getting layups and stuff on it,” he said. “They’re a very good passing team, and they’ve got guys who can shoot the ball out on the perimeter, and it’s a tough decision sometimes.”

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Sloan’s hoping for a better start tonight, too.
“Every time we’ve been down here we seem to get in a hole to start with,” he said. “I don’t know if we’re conserving ourselves, or what.”

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And finally …
The Jazz practiced Monday and held their shootaround this morning at the Los Angeles Clippers’ new facility in the Playa Vista area of L.A.
The building includes a nifty trophy case that media members pass by as they make their way toward the two courts inside.
It’s empty.
No trophies, no plaques, not even a participation ribbon.
Completely empty.
Not exactly inspiring stuff – but, then again, and much to the Clippers’ credit, nowhere near as stodgy, either, as where the Lakers practice in El Segundo.

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