No Wind in Clippers’ Sails at Finish

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  It was crunch time against the Charlotte Hornets Friday night and the Clippers’ Corey Maggette was lost.

Even though he was giving his best, Maggette didn’t have a clue where he was supposed to be on the defensive end. With the score tied at 81 and less than three minutes remaining, Maggette decided to help stop a drive by the Hornets’ Baron Davis and leave Jamal Mashburn open.

Wrong. Mashburn made Maggette pay for his decision with a crucial three-point basket that helped carry Charlotte to a 92-87 victory over the Clippers before 12,086 at Charlotte Coliseum.

With Lamar Odom in the locker room battling a bout of food poisoning, the Clippers gave a gutsy effort and nearly earned their second victory on the six-game trip.

But the Clippers didn’t make enough offensive plays down the stretch and their mental mistakes cost them defensively.

“The Clippers keep coming at you,” said Charlotte Coach Paul Silas, whose team leads the Central Division with a 13-8 record. “They’re a good young ballclub. They hung around and gave themselves a chance to win. Mashburn’s three was the big shot of the game.”

Until that shot, the Clippers were in position to win even with Odom playing only the first six minutes before going to the sidelines.

Despite playing with several unusual combinations, the Clippers stayed close behind guards Jeff McInnis and Keyon Dooling, who were used together extensively to combat Charlotte’s backcourt of David Wesley and Davis.

McInnis, a Charlotte native, led the Clippers with 21 points and seven assists. Dooling, who played a lot of minutes at shooting guard, had 14 points, six assists and four steals.

“Their backcourt is very strong,” Dooling said about Wesley and Davis, who combined for 34 points and 15 assists. “With experience and time, we will be able to pull out these games. We’re never satisfied when we lose and we have to make sure that we learn from our losses.”

But the Clippers--namely Maggette--learned a painful lesson about leaving a man open unless it’s called for in the team’s game plan.

“The toughest part about playing so many different lineups and combinations is on the defensive end,” assistant Rex Kalamian said. “It’s tough making sure that guys know when to and when not to double team.”

For much of the game, Maggette’s did a commendable job making up for mistakes with effort. But when the game got tight, Charlotte was able to free Mashburn at the right time.

“I was trying to help out but I made a mistake and they converted,” Maggette said. “The guys we had out there really haven’t played together too much but you can see that’s our future.”

For the fourth consecutive game, Maggette’s scoring kept the Clippers close. Stepping in for Odom, Maggette had 14 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes. He has scored more than 12 points in each of the last four games.

“If I get the minutes, I am going to do something,” Maggette said. “I’m always going to play hard.”

Playing hard is something the Clippers did against Charlotte. After leading for most of the first half, L.A. appeared on the verge of folding in the third quarter when the Hornets opened a five-point lead, thanks to a full-court trapping defense.

Doing most of the damage for Charlotte was forward P.J. Brown, who was often left open because of poor defensive rotations by Clippers. Brown finished with 16 points after scoring only 17 points total in his previous five games.

But the Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter. Dooling did a solid job defensively on Wesley and McInnis and Maggette and Sean Rooks made open shots to help the Clippers tie the score before Mashburn’s three-point basket.

Over the final two minutes, the Clippers hurt themselves with turnovers and bad shots as they dropped to 1-4 on their trip and 6-15 overall.

“It’s always the little things that kill us,” McInnis said. “But it was tough playing without Lamar. Not having our main man changed our look, make no mistakes about it.”