Even Brand Can’t Avert Loss

He entered the game to rousing cheers after 7 minutes 8 seconds, promptly grabbed a missed shot by a teammate and dropped the ball through the basket for two familiar-looking points.

So simple, so effective and so absent for the last five weeks.

Yes, that was Elton Brand stepping back on the court for the Clippers and trying to salvage something from a lost season. He couldn’t help the Clippers defeat the Utah Jazz -- they would lose, 94-89, before 17,531 at Staples Center -- but simply playing again was enough for him Tuesday.

After all, Brand sat out 18 games because of a stress fracture in his lower left leg. Perhaps a healthy Brand, providing his customary 18 points and 12 rebounds a game, wouldn’t have rescued the Clippers from another forgettable season. But it couldn’t have hurt.

“The worst,” he said when asked what it was like sitting and watching his teammates get worked over by the opposition more nights than not. “Sometimes I have to come in here [the locker room] because it was tough to watch.”

So why bother returning at all?

Certainly, no one would have faulted Brand for sitting out the rest of the season.

“Elton is a tough dude,” Lamar Odom said.

“He wants to finish the season with his team,” interim Coach Dennis Johnson said.

“He doesn’t want to finish it on the bench. He wants to finish it on the floor.”

Brand put it this way: “I owe it to the fans. I know I look good in suits, but they don’t come to see me sitting on the bench.... If I’m 100%, of course I’m coming back to try to finish the season strong.”

As ever, questions turned to the off-season, to the possibility that Brand has only eight more games to play with this group of Clippers. Brand, Odom, Corey Maggette and Andre Miller are eligible to become restricted free agents and Michael Olowokandi can become an unrestricted free agent, which should make for an eventful summer.

“At the end of the season, I’ll make that decision,” Brand said. “I have to make the best decision for myself.... The guys we have here, once we get everybody healthy and playing for one goal, we have a talented team. We didn’t show it this year, but we showed it last year.”

The Clippers proved Tuesday that they couldn’t make free throws when it counted, making eight of 14 in the fourth quarter. They had an 86-85 lead after Miller’s layup with 1:10 to go, but John Stockton made a jump shot at the other end. Matt Harpring then swiped the ball from Brand on the Clippers’ next possession and scored.

Game over.

Brand scored 12 points, took 13 rebounds and had three blocks in 31 minutes. Corey Maggette had 23 points for the Clippers. Karl Malone had 25 points for the Jazz.

“My legs locked up in the fourth quarter,” Brand said. “I hadn’t played, I hadn’t practiced in five weeks. I hadn’t had any contact in five weeks. I didn’t think coach would play me that much. I thought I was back tonight, but probably the next game I’ll be back [Friday at Seattle]. I was still rebounding. I was still blocking shots.”