Clippers sputter toward exit

Exit interviews won’t formally begin until Thursday, the day after what seems like the longest Clippers season ends, mercifully.

Baron Davis had his with Coach Mike Dunleavy.

More or less.

It was one of those unscheduled, spur-of-the-moment chats for about half an hour after practice last week. Impromptu, after all, can often be more productive than a formal session

“We’re both in the same boat,” Davis said Saturday night after Portland beat the Clippers, 87-72, at Staples Center. “This is his ship and he’s the captain, and it’s up to me to figure out how everything is going to fit together.

“I know from the beginning of the season a lot was placed on his shoulders as the head man in charge. I think it was just unfair with all the different lineups and different injuries. We never got a chance to put our best foot forward.”

Dunleavy thought the discussion was equally productive.

“We were talking play sets and he rattled off a bunch of sets that had a high return for us on the year,” he said. “And we started talking about different things as far as progressing and understanding our system better.”

There were glimmers before the Trail Blazers put the lights out. The Clippers led, 68-66, with 7 minutes 43 seconds remaining before Portland hit another level, almost at will, and put the game out of reach with an 18-0 run.

Portland was led by LaMarcus Aldridge’s 21 points and nine rebounds. The Clippers had been trying to win consecutive games for the first time since late February.

Rookie Eric Gordon led the Clippers with 18 points. Zach Randolph, who was returning from a two-game suspension, had 13 and Davis contributed 12. Randolph took an elbow to the head from Portland’s Joel Przybilla at the beginning of the fourth quarter and suffered a mild concussion.

Dunleavy spoke about what the team wants out of Davis, and pointed to Friday night’s win against Sacramento as example No. 1.

“I think when he has spurts when he’s in attack mode and he’s trying to get to the rim, like in our game last night, that’s exactly what he should do,” he said.

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Etc.

Forward Al Thornton has a partially torn tendon in his right shoulder, and the Clippers are going to take a conservative approach with the injury.

He will rest it about four weeks and then embark on a strengthening program. Clippers trainer Jasen Powell said that Thornton first suffered the injury when he went up for a dunk in a game at Golden State in mid-March.

Thornton, who sat out five of the last six games, was asked about the level of pain, on a scale from one to 10. “When I’m doing something and when I can feel it, probably at a seven,” he said.

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