Something’s Missing--oh, It’s Clippers

PORTLAND, Ore. —  You can usually tell how well the Clippers are playing by studying Coach Bill Fitch’s body language.

If Fitch is scowling, the Clippers are in trouble.

In Tuesday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Fitch wore a scowl throughout the third quarter as the Trail Blazers took a 21-point lead and handed the Clippers their fifth consecutive defeat, 100-82, before 20,138 at the Rose Garden.

Clipper guards Darrick Martin, Malik Sealy and Terry Dehere combined to make nine of 29 shots as the Clippers shot 35.6%. Martin missed seven of 11 shots, Sealy missed seven of 10 and Dehere missed six of eight. Forward Rodney Rogers missed 11 of 16 shots.

“Ray Charles could have had a better percentage than that sitting at the piano,” Fitch said.

Clipper rookie Lorenzen Wright was no match for Trail Blazer center Arvydas Sabonis.

Sabonis had 17 points and seven rebounds. Wright missed six of 10 shots and had eight points and nine rebounds.

“A lot of rookie power forwards have trouble with Arvydas Sabonis,” Fitch said. “That was the least of our problems.”

The Clippers, who won three of five games on a 10-day trip at the start of the month, haven’t won a game for two weeks and have fallen 10 games under .500 at 14-24.

“It’s a little bit frustrating because we were playing well a week ago and now it looks like the plague has hit us,” guard Brent Barry said. “We’ve been inconsistent. We’ve had guys get open looks and they’re missing shots that they normally make.”

But the losing streak doesn’t concern Fitch, who opened his tenure as Clipper coach with 16 consecutive losses.

“For a team that’s been on a 16-game streak, five is not going to worry anybody,” Fitch said. “The quality of play worries me more than the streak.”

The Clippers, who trailed, 81-64, after three quarters, cut it to 81-71 on a layup by Bo Outlaw four minutes into the final period.

But guard Kenny Anderson made a three-point shot, Cliff Robinson made a jump shot, Sabonis made two layups and Chris Dudley made a free throw as the Trail Blazers scored 10 consecutive points to ice their ninth victory in their last 11 games.

Fitch thinks the Trail Blazers (23-17) are one of the most surprising teams in the Western Conference.

“In Sabonis they have the best celebrity player that goes unnoticed,” Fitch said. “I would pay money to watch him play. He does so much with the basketball. And Robinson is having one of those years where he has some spectacular nights.”

Robinson had 23 points and a season-high nine rebounds as Portland registered its ninth consecutive home victory over the Clippers.

“They weren’t double-teaming down on the block,” Robinson said. “It’s a rare occasion where I have it down there and don’t get double-teamed, so I just tried to be aggressive and go to the basket.”

The Clippers were outscored, 22-6, in the final 10 minutes the second quarter as they fell behind, 51-41, at halftime. They got out of sync after Dehere and Barry replaced Sealy and Martin in the backcourt.

“We had the lead and we put a couple guys into the ballgame to rest someone and we went down the tubes,” Fitch said. “The first time we substituted the guards we just got completely of whack.”