Clippers Outmanned in 121-90 Loss : Celtics Bounce Back After Losing Three Straight Games

BOSTON —  The Clippers had trouble getting to the Boston Garden for Friday night’s game against the Boston Celtics. The team bus got stuck in traffic after a snowstorm nearly paralyzed the city at rush hour.

The Clippers, who sat on their bus for 90 minutes, might have been better off staying there.

Predictably, the Celtics trounced Los Angeles, 121-90, as Larry Bird scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds before a sellout crowd of 14,890 at the Boston Garden.

“The Celtics are too good for us,” Clipper Coach Gene Shue said after watching his team lose its 21st consecutive road game. “They have too much strength. We gave up too many easy baskets, and I wasn’t happy at all.”

The Clippers, who have been hit hard by injuries this season, lost starting point guard Larry Drew with a sprained right ankle in the first quarter and reserve forward Kenny Fields in the third quarter with a bruised right thigh. They had only eight healthy players at the end of the game.

“We’re just not a good team to begin with and it doesn’t help with all these injuries,” Shue said. The Clippers, who shot just 36%, missed their first 12 shots in the third quarter and had only five baskets in each of the second and third quarters.

Benoit Benjamin played as if he were in a daze, scoring only 6 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in 24 minutes.

“Everyone has bad nights,” Benjamin said. Michael Cage (23 points, 11 rebounds) and Darnell Valentine (17 points, 5 assists), were the only Clippers who played well. But Cage had a miserable shooting night, hitting just 4 of 13 shots. He scored 15 points from the foul line.

“We struggled tonight,” Cage said. “But we were playing the Celtics. They were struggling and they had to take it out on someone.”

The Celtics (40-19), who were coming off an embarrassing 117-107 defeat by the New Jersey Nets, the NBA’s second-worst team, had lost a season-high three consecutive games to fall behind the Detroit Pistons in the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

“The New Jersey game was an eye opener,” Celtic Coach K.C. Jones said. “There’s no way with their record that they should come in here and beat us. But they just ran all over us. We were like robots out there against New Jersey.”

Boston’s Kevin McHale was sidelined with a strained left knee for the second consecutive game.

The Celtics, however, got back on track against the Clippers (12-43), the NBA’s worst team.

Boston blitzed the Clippers, 16-3, in the second quarter to take control of the game. Bird had 10 points during the Celtic run.

“There’s concern any time you lose three games,” Bird said. “I don’t know if we needed to win by 20 or 30, we just needed a win. We didn’t play well against New Jersey, but I thought we played pretty well tonight.

“I think we’ll be all right by the time the playoffs come around. I like our chances because we’ve got a better bench than we had last season. If (Bill) Walton comes back, our bench will go from being a ‘C’ bench to an ‘A’ bench.”

Walton, who has been sidelined with a foot injury this season, participated in a light practice with the Celtics Friday morning. It was the first time he had worked out since undergoing foot surgery last July. The Celtics are hopeful that he’ll be back in time for the playoffs. Walton attended the game, sitting on the Celtic bench, but wouldn’t give any interviews after the game.

“He (Walton) will be back when his foot says so,” Jones said. “When I see him go out there and go up and down the floor a couple of times and work with the team for four or five days, then I’ll start to think about how long it’ll be before he comes back.”

Clipper Notes

The Clippers traded the rights to forward Michael Brooks to the Denver Nuggets for a third-round draft pick this June. Brooks, 29, was the San Diego Clippers’ first-round draft pick in 1980. He played four seasons before he tore up his right knee on Feb. 4, 1984. He attempted to make a comeback with the Clippers last season but wasn’t invited to training camp after a brief tryout. This season, Brooks led the Continental Basketball Assn. in rebounding and was the MVP of last month’s CBA All-Star game. The Nuggets signed Brooks to replace injured forward Calvin Natt. . . . The Clippers plan to sign Claude Gregory to replace Joe Wolf, who was placed on the injured list with a sprained knee Thursday. Gregory, a 6-foot 9-inch, 225-pound forward, is averaging 23.5 points and 11.2 rebounds in the CBA. . . . The Clippers end their trip tonight when they face the Chicago Bulls (Channel 5, 5:30 p.m., PST). They return home to play the New Jersey Nets Wednesday at the Sports Arena. . . . Clipper backup center Greg Kite, waived by the Celtics last month, got a big ovation from the Garden crowd when he entered the game. Kite, who played on two world championship teams in four years with the Celtics, said it was strange to sit on the visiting bench.