Kids play: Young lineup leads Jazz to best start since '98-99

Veterans may have set the table, but the kiddie corps came to play.

So it went Tuesday night for the Jazz, who rode the youthful enthusiasm of rookies Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap — not to mention Mehmet Okur's game-high 27 points, yet another double-double from Carlos Boozer and 22 points off the bench from old man Matt Harpring — to a 112-90 Delta Center victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The effort has the 7-1 Jazz off to their best start since they opened the 1998-99 lockout-shortened season 9-1, and it came despite the absence of starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko.

Even with Kirilenko sitting in a suit next to also-injured veteran shooting guard Gordan Giricek, Utah had no trouble separating themselves in the second half from the now 5-2 Clippers.

It did so with a starting lineup that included 22-year-old Deron Williams at point guard, 19-year-old C.J. Miles at shooting guard, 21-year-old Brewer opening in place of Kirilenko and fellow 21-year-old Millsap offering four blocks' and four steals' worth of punch off the bench.

The younguns mostly just did what they're supposed to, those who have been around the block a time or two suggested.

"When you're a young guy, a rookie — you want to bring that energy to the game, because you've got young legs, you've got all the energy," said Harpring, one the Jazz's elder statesman at age 30. "You've got to bring it.

"And it's fun," he added, "when they're out there and they're flying around and trying to get loose balls and all that kind of stuff."

The Jazz began to pull away when they used Derek Fisher's drive to the basket and the free throw that followed, two freebies from Harpring and a Fisher-fed and-1 3-point play by Brewer to spark a 12-2 run at the close of the third quarter.

The runaway continued into the fourth, sputtering a bit only after Utah had outscored the Clippers — who went one stretch of 10 minutes and 27 seconds in the second half without a field goal — 23-3 to go up 90-73.

Brewer, who also blocked a couple shots, scored seven of his 12 point in the third quarter — helping to cover for Miles' 0-of-6 shooting from the field.