Bad Experience for Clippers

SAN ANTONIO —  Ah, reality. The San Antonio Spurs delivered a cold, hard dose of it to the Clippers in the season opener Tuesday at the Alamodome.

Good against each other in training camp scrimmages is one thing, but good against league powers is quite another, as the youthful Clippers learned in a 109-98 loss to the loaded-at-every-position Spurs.

When the Clippers muzzled Tim Duncan and David Robinson down low, guard Antonio Daniels torched them from the outside--plain and simple. The Clippers also didn’t box out well enough and got a lackluster game from forward Lamar Odom.

The good news for the Clippers, who began the season as the NBA’s youngest team with an average age of 24.8, is that tomorrow offers another chance to mature.

The Clippers, losers of 15 in a row to the Spurs, face the Rockets at Houston in Game 2 of 82 on Thursday. They won’t have to contend with the same sort of inside-outside double threat, however.

“Pick your poison,” power forward Elton Brand said without a trace of humor.

The Clippers, determined to suffocate Duncan and Robinson, did just fine during the first half, trailing by only 48-44. Duncan had nine points, on four-for-10 shooting, and Robinson two, making his only shot. Duncan had only 15 and Robinson 11 at game’s end.

Meanwhile, the Spurs lurking around the perimeter weren’t getting much accomplished. Brand had 14 first-half points in his Clipper debut, scoring 10 of the team’s first 16 points.

San Antonio, a Western Conference finalist last season, had three missed shots, two turnovers and a Robinson basket to account for its first six possessions.

“We got off to a slow start,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said. “The guys weren’t nervous, but they wanted to do well. In a strange way, they felt some pressure.”

Once the third quarter began, the Spurs used their experience, their smarts and the hot outside shooting of Daniels to run away from the Clippers.

Daniels, scoreless on three shots in the first half, found his touch to start the second. After a Robinson hook shot, Daniels sank a three-pointer, then two free throws, then two more, then one more.

Steve Smith and Robinson made a free throw apiece. Duncan followed with two free throws, and then Daniels dunked to give the Spurs a 67-60 lead with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Suddenly, there was a gap, and the Spurs charged past the bewildered Clippers and seized command of the game. The Spurs’ lead swelled to 80-66 moments later, after Duncan dunked, Daniels scored off a fast break, Smith made a three-pointer and Duncan made two free throws.

By quarter’s end, Daniels had 17 points and the Spurs held an 80-70 lead. Daniels wouldn’t score another point, but the Clippers never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

By game’s end, Brand had 27 points and point guard Jeff McInnis 23, but too many lapses cost the Clippers.

Odom struggled to find his game early on, going through a first-half funk in which he seemed to be pressing. He settled down in the third and fourth quarters, but couldn’t help contain Duncan and Robinson inside and Daniels outside.

“We’re not going to be discouraged,” said Odom, who wound up with 14 points and 13 rebounds. “We’ve got to keep playing. ... In the third quarter, we played hard, but they hit their shots. They took it to the hole and got to the foul line.”

The Clippers’ failure to box out under the boards also hurt from start to finish. Duncan and Robinson fought for offensive rebounds, using their long arms to tip the ball away from better-positioned Clippers.

Were the Spurs climbing over the Clippers’ backs? Yeah, probably, Coach Alvin Gentry said. But it was no excuse for the Clippers officially giving up 18 second-chance points, which he said was probably closer to 30.

Boxing out was a staple of Gentry’s training camp speeches to his players, but it was as if the words went in one ear and out the other Tuesday. The Clippers and Spurs each had 42 rebounds, but San Antonio took 14 offensive rebounds, which was about 14 too many, as far as Gentry was concerned.

“We were getting pushed under our basket,” Gentry said. “It doesn’t matter if the referees don’t call it. You’ve still got to stand your ground.”

On another night, against another team, the Clippers might have been resilient enough to overpower the opposition with superior athleticism. But against the experienced Spurs, the Clippers came up short in all sorts of areas.

Of course, much of it happened Tuesday precisely because the Spurs are so strong inside and outside.

“Of all the teams we play, they seem to give us the most trouble,” Eric Piatkowski said. “Tonight, we played pretty well. We were right with them in the first half because they missed a lot of outside jumpers. But once they get a lead on you, it’s hard to get back in the game.”

Rest assured, better teams than the Clippers will fail against the Spurs.

“That’s a championship-caliber team full of veterans,” Gentry said of San Antonio. “So Danny Ferry comes in and hits some shots, or Terry Porter comes in and hits a couple of shots, or Tony Parker hits some big shots. It’s tough for us in one of those situations. Either you get beat inside or out.”