NBA PLAYOFFS / UPDATE : CLIPPERS : Roberts Facing Familiar Foul Trouble

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Stanley Roberts has to stay out of foul trouble or the Clippers will have almost no defensive presence inside, and if the Clippers have no defensive presence inside against Hakeem Olajuwon, this season will have almost no future.

Though Roberts fouled out 15 times during the regular season, more than anyone in the NBA, his impact on the Clippers was never more evident than Monday in Game 3 against the Rockets. Roberts fouled out after going scoreless with five rebounds in 18 minutes, forcing various forwards to try to defend the league’s best center.

“We got beat inside bad,” Clipper Coach Larry Brown said. “Bad. A lot of that was because of Stanley’s foul trouble.”

Roberts was again frustrated by the officiating, drawing a technical from Bruce Alexander after one foul call. But, he insisted Tuesday, that can’t change his style of play.

“I’m going out to play aggressive and play hard,” said Roberts, who is averaging 10 points, 6.3 rebounds and 25 minutes in the series. “If they call the game the way they called it (Monday), I guess I’ll be in foul trouble.”

Said Clipper Mark Jackson: “Give Hakeem Olajuwon credit. He’s one of the best in the game, he has a name and he’s going to get those calls. That’s what it boils down to.”

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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, Part II:

The Clippers are aware Houston seems to be clogging up the middle and begging them to shoot outside.

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Clipper Ken Norman said. “ . . . Everyone who plays us knows that we’re not the greatest jump-shooting team in the world. Yeah, they really are making things tough on the interior people.”

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After having about a dozen sections in the upper level behind both baskets virtually empty for Monday, a sellout for Game 4 also appears very unlikely.

By Tuesday afternoon, about 10,200 tickets had been sold, about 5,700 short of capacity. Game 3 attendance was 12,628--less than even their regular-season average of 12,991.

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Loy Vaught, who has had a bothersome back problem for most of his pro career, is questionable for tonight because of a strained back. . . . Rocket Scott Brooks did not practice because of a sore back, neck and foot, the result of being bumped by Ron Harper into Vaught during a hard foul with 1:11 left Monday.