Clippers Come Back Down to Earth

Talk about taking two steps back.

Forty-eight hours after recording their biggest victory of the season with an impressive upset win at Phoenix, the Clippers returned to their old ways and lost, 103-94, to the struggling Washington Wizards on Sunday night before 12,862 at Staples Center.

In ending a nine-game losing streak, the Wizards made 23 of 39 field goals in the second half and were carried by the one-two scoring punch of Juwan Howard (31 points) and Richard Hamilton (30).

“We didn’t do a very good job slowing them down,” Clipper veteran Eric Piatkowski said. “Those guys got hot and we didn’t help out and rotate. We didn’t do that . . . They were getting open shots and knocking them down. But they really weren’t difficult. They made shots you are supposed to make playing in the NBA.”

Any way you look at it, the Clippers have to defeat teams such as Washington at home in order to be taken seriously around the league. Especially when considering that less than two weeks ago, the Clippers erased a 21-point, second-half deficit to beat the Wizards at Washington.

“Of course [losing to the Clippers on Dec. 6] was a factor, we talked about that in the morning about not letting that happen again,” said former Clipper Tyrone Nesby, who had made only two of 12 shots but had four rebounds and seven assists for the Wizards.

Added Washington Coach Leonard Hamilton: “Our motivation was out of respect. [The Clippers] went on the road and beat a very good Phoenix team. They came back on us [at Washington] when we thought we were playing well. It was out of respect for them that we came so focused.”

Even though the Clippers were not a full strength, with starting point guard Jeff McInnis limited because of food poisoning and starting shooting guard Quentin Richardson restricted to only 12 minutes before leaving the game because of a severe left ankle sprain, they still have enough talent to win short-handed.

But against the Wizards, the Clippers didn’t get enough contributions. Lamar Odom had 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but he was the only starter to score more than eight points.

“We just didn’t come out with the intensity needed on defense in order to win,” power forward Brian Skinner said about the Clippers, outrebounded for only the fifth time this season (59-51).

Rookie Darius Miles made six of 10 field goals and had 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Piatkowski and Keyon Dooling each had 10 points but the Clipper bench made only 16 of 41 shots from the floor.

“With a young team, the yo-yo effect will occur,” Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry. “It’s unfortunate, I’m not surprised, but we just wanted to build off of the Phoenix win. We’re not the type of team that can win without playing our ‘A’ game. We play hard every night, but with a young team it’s tough to find a way to win when we are not on our ‘A’ game.”

For the Clippers, who dropped to 8-18, they are exactly where they were last season after 26 games.

The difference between this season and a year ago, however, is the team’s optimism brought on by the arrival of young players such as Miles, Dooling, Richardson and Maggette.

But that changes with every loss such as this one against the Wizards, far from contenders in the Eastern Conference.

After holding Howard to only five points in the first half, the Clippers did a terrible job of preventing him from getting open looks over the final two quarters. Howard, who came in averaging 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds, dominated his defenders.

And that was the case for Hamilton, who tied a career high in points by making 12 of 20 field goals.

“Every time I looked up, it seemed like [Hamilton or Howard] were getting shots and we were taking the ball out of the net,” Skinner said. “We just didn’t play with the aggressiveness we normally have.”