The NBA / Chris Baker : Barkley Took the Loss Personally

Power forward Charles Barkley was in a funk after the Philadelphia 76ers had lost a home game to Moses Malone and the Washington Bullets on Christmas, 102-97.

Barkley missed practice the next day and was fined an undisclosed amount. Coach Matt Guokas called Barkley at his home to find out why he had missed practice, but Barkley’s phone was out of order.

Asked later why he had missed practice, Barkley said: “I had to get away from some (bleep).”

Asked if he was referring to his teammates or Guokas, Barkley said: “I just had to be by myself.”

The 76ers, who have been among the NBA’s elite teams in the 1980s, have struggled this month.

Chick Hearn, the Laker broadcaster, said this was the worst 76er team he has seen in the last decade.

The 76ers have been so bad, in fact, that it’s a wonder that Harold Katz, the team’s outspoken owner, hasn’t publicly criticized them, as he did a few years ago.

The 76ers have lost 8 of their last 12 games and were blown out by the Lakers Sunday night at the Forum, 111-85.

Barkley scored 11 points in the first period but managed just 2 more in the next three quarters.

When a youngster approached Barkley in the locker room after the game and asked for his autograph, Barkley said: “It’s tough when you lose. Get a real job, a 9-to-5 job.”

The 76ers led the Lakers, 30-25, when Barkley embarrassed himself by missing a reverse slam dunk with eight minutes left in the second period. He missed another slam a few minutes later, and the momentum shifted to the Lakers.

Barkley claimed that he had made the first dunk, but that the officials hadn’t seen it.

“I think the ball went through and hit my head and came back out,” Barkley said.

Right.

Barkley, an unabashed hotdog, may be too emotional.

“Well, that’s Charles,” Guokas said. “He’s a great player, but he’s got to come to the realization that not everything is going to go his way, and he’s got to be able to handle it.

“We’ve had many people try to talk to him, but he’s got to find it within himself.”

Said Barkley: “I think we just need to get this year out of the way. I’ll be glad when ’86 is over.

“We just haven’t been playing well as a team. We’re getting individual performances but not from the whole team. We’re probably at the same point we were last year. We’ll come back.”

The 76ers have lacked a dominant center, having dealt Malone to the Bullets, but Jeff Ruland, who has played in only two games since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, is expected back next week.

And World B. Free may be available as soon as Friday. The Cleveland Cavaliers announced Tuesday they would not match the offer sheet the veteran guard had signed with the 76ers.

Free has been working out with a conditioning instructor in Philadelphia.

Fans are not exactly clamoring for Clipper tickets this season.

The Clippers rank last in the National Basketball Assn. in attendance, having drawn an announced 100,437 spectators for their first 15 home games. That works out to an average of 6,696 fans a game.

A Sports Arena official said, however, that Clipper officials pad their attendance figures and that the actual turnstile count for the team’s first 15 games this season has been 58,421, an average of 3,138.

The difference between the Clippers’ announced attendance and the actual count is 42,016.

Attendance has fallen every year since the team moved here from San Diego in 1984. The Clippers averaged 9,369 fans in 1984-85, and 8,332 last season.

Forward Walter Berry was in such a hurry to get out of Portland after being traded to San Antonio that he missed his plane.

Berry, the 14th pick in the last June’s draft, alienated Portland officials by going AWOL from a game and missing practices.

But he hasn’t gotten off to a much better start in San Antonio.

Berry got a speeding ticket on the way to the Portland airport. He said that caused him to miss his flight to San Antonio and he showed up late for his first game with the Spurs.

Point guard Robert Reid of the Houston Rockets got antsy after missing seven games while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.

So Reid decided to test his knee.

He drove to The Summit in Houston and persuaded a security guard to turn on the lights so he could shoot. Reid found that he hadn’t lost his touch and was activated last week.

Reid then scored 16 points in his first game back as the Rockets beat the Clippers last Tuesday night in Houston, 121-96.