Chaney Bemoans Absence of Nixon After Clippers’ 97-94 Loss to Hawks

Shortly after the Clippers’ 97-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night at the Sports Arena, Clipper Coach Don Chaney finally blurted out what he was really thinking.

It wasn’t about the Clippers’ horrid shooting (34.1%), their inability to score in the final minutes, or the fact that Atlanta dominated the Clippers on the boards for most of the game.

No, Chaney was thinking about Norm Nixon, his absent point guard who remains an unsigned free agent seven games into the season.

“I’m not one for excuses,” Chaney said. “But that’s what it all boils down to. We can’t play Franklin (Edwards) forever without a rest, and I’m not really comfortable playing Marques (Johnson) or Derek (Smith) there.”

There, he said it. But this was not something that came to Chaney in a moment of clarity. He has been thinking for some time about how the Clippers, now 5-2, have suffered with Nixon sitting at his Baldwin Hills home.

Apparently, others in the crowd of 8,716 were thinking the same thing. Midway through the first quarter, when the Clippers were quickly falling behind the Hawks, a sign appeared in a conspicuous spot in the stands. It read: “We Want Norm!”

What the Clippers also could have used was somebody to stop Atlanta’s Cliff Levingston (20 points) and Dominique Wilkins (18 points, including several breath-taking dunks), as well as a few players who could make outside shots and handle the Hawks’ tenacious half-court trap.

On a night when Smith scored 29 points but failed on three attempts late in the game that possibly could have given the Clippers the lead, the only other Clipper who showed much was forward Cedric Maxwell. He scored 20 points, his high with the Clippers, and had 15 rebounds.

Asked to name the Clippers’ biggest problem Saturday night, Chaney pointed to his team’s inability to handle Atlanta’s defensive pressure.

The reason for that?

“We lost our poise,” Chaney said. “We didn’t handle the trap well and we either threw the ball away or took bad shots. We just panicked and threw the ball away.”

And the reason for that?

“That all boils down to not having Norm,” Chaney said.

Chaney had previously shrugged off questions about Nixon. He just assumed everybody knew he wanted him back.

When it was suggested that the worse the Clippers play, the sooner owner Donald T. Sterling might be willing to expedite the Nixon situation, Chaney said:

“I don’t like to think about that ever. You try to win as many games as possible. Sure, you lose a game and if you’re missing a very important guy, you feel you need him more. But I’ve always said that, win or lose, we need Norm.”

But the Clippers had to carry on without Nixon, and they didn’t have enough left at the end to overcome the Hawks.

The Clippers played poorly in the first half, trailing by as many as 18 points. In the first 24 minutes they shot 34% and allowed the Hawks to grab almost as many offensive rebounds (15) as defensive (16).

But, as has been the case in several Clipper wins this season, they woke up in the second half and made a spirited stab at overtaking the Hawks. They came close, but never quite made it.

Trailing, 95-92, with just under three minutes to play, the Clippers looked to Smith to salvage the win. Three times in the final minutes, the Clippers put the ball in Smith’s hands and told him to create, and three times he failed.

In the final minute, the Clippers were down, 95-94, and Smith threw up an air-ball in heavy traffic. Atlanta managed to keep control of the ball until Ray Willians, cut loose by the Clippers in training camp, sank two free throws. that made it, 97-94.

Again the Clippers went to Smith for a desperation three-point attempt that also missed.

Chaney defended his strategy of going to Smith, who made only 9 of 26 shots. After all, Smith is the Clippers’ leading scorer and the player they always go to in pressure situations.

“People say I shouldn’t have given it to Derek,” Chaney said. “Well, they forget how many times we’ve given it to him and he’s scored for us.”

Said Smith: “They set up the plays for me and, just because there’s pressure, I’m not going to kick the ball out. I had a poor shooting game, but I came into the game shooting 59%. So, I’m going to keep shooting.”

Smith wasn’t the only cold-shooting Clipper. Johnson hit only 4 of 15, James Donaldson 1 of 6.

Clipper Notes A deceiving statistic: Through the first six games, Clipper point guard Franklin Edwards has commited 23 turnovers. Through the first six games last season, Norm Nixon commited 20 turnovers. But Nixon handled the ball considerably more than Edwards has. . . . The Clippers are off until Tuesday night when they play Golden State at Oakland.

Cedric Maxwell of the Clippers blocks this shot by Randy Wittman Saturday night.