Clippers Can’t Get Out of the Cold

The Clippers have put together some embarrassing games over the years, but Friday night’s effort against the Charlotte Hornets has to rank among the worst.

The Clippers simply did not show up. Playing with a depleted roster, they went through the motions most of the night and made only 38% of their shots in losing for the seventh consecutive time to the Hornets, 86-73, before 12,484 at Staples Center.

Off-target shots. Clanks. Bricks. Call them what you want, but the Clippers will remember their weakest showing of the season for their poor shooting. They made only 12 field goals and scored only 30 points in the first half and then followed that with a 15-point third quarter.

Free throw shooting? Forget about it, the Clippers made 15 of 30 from the line.

“Everybody struggled and was looking at each other to step up and then for a while, we all got a little selfish,” guard Quentin Richardson said.

“Teams are not coming in here [Staples Center] like before. They don’t want to get beat by the Clippers and they know we can play now.”

The Clippers had only 10 players in uniform. Second-year swingman Corey Maggette wasn’t at the arena because of an upper respiratory infection and rookie point guard Keyon Dooling sat out the game because of gastrointestinal infection.

Without them, the Clippers--who were outrebounded, 52-36, and trailed by as much as 24 points in the third quarter--played like a sick team.

Missing every easy shot imaginable, the Clippers were horrible from the start against the Hornets, whom they played tough before losing to by five points at Charlotte last month.

After consecutive contests to open the week, when they defeated Toronto at home and lost a close game at Phoenix on Wednesday, the Clippers didn’t put up much of a fight against a Charlotte team playing without high-scoring swingman Jamal Mashburn, who sat out because of an inflamed left knee.

“As a coach, I never felt like we had a chance to win, especially after how we started the game,” Alvin Gentry said about the Clippers, who dropped to 11-23 overall and 8-11 at home before Sunday’s game against the Lakers.

“We didn’t do anything to warrant a win or even to stay in the game.”

Charlotte, which ended a four-game losing streak, did not start off shooting much better than the Clippers. But as the game went on, the Clippers’ defense went south, while the Hornets dug in deeper.

On a night when the Clippers really needed a huge game from Lamar Odom, they didn’t get it until the outcome was decided. Instead Odom was the leader of the Clippers’ brick parade as he misfired on nine of his first 10 shots.

He had a strong fourth quarter to finish with 23 points and seven rebounds, and he pulled the Clippers within eight points at 81-73 after a three-point basket with 1:21 to play.

“[Charlotte]’s defensive scheme was good tonight,” said Odom, who had to play some point guard for the first time in weeks because of the absence of Dooling. “They knew who they wanted to take away.”

With Odom not in flow early, the Clippers struggled offensively. Their 30 first-half points was off by one from their lowest scoring half of the season. Only point guard Jeff McInnis, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half, had a good rhythm when the Clippers had the ball.

Defensively, the Clippers were not much better, even though Darius Miles had eight blocked shots and 11 rebounds.

They allowed Charlotte forward Eddie Robinson, activated off the injured list before the game, to have a night to remember. After averaging 3.6 points in 22 games before Friday, Robinson ripped the Clippers with 21 points and eight rebounds.

“I thought he would be a little rusty because he hadn’t played in a long while,” Charlotte Coach Paul Silas said about Robinson, a second-year 6-foot-9 forward from Central Oklahoma. “But he’s the kind of player that once he gets going, he can light it up.”

And Robinson had plenty of help. Former Laker Elden Campbell had 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots and David Wesley had 17 points, despite making only six of 21 shots.

Former UCLA point guard Baron Davis had a quiet game with nine points, eight assists and three rebounds.

“This was one of those games you have in the NBA, there’s no getting around it,” Gentry said. “We were down [24] points and after that we never got into the game.”

*

HIS REALM

Chris Webber racked up 51 points and 26 rebounds but Kings lost in overtime. D7

MOOD IS FOUL

Shaq’s taking

all these

personal fouls personally--he wants the refs to be consistent. D7