Clippers Foul Up in Loss to Kings

On the eve of their first game against the Lakers since March, the Clippers knocked their arena-mates out of the Pacific Division lead.

By crumbling down the stretch Saturday in a 116-109 loss to the Sacramento Kings, they helped the Kings move half a game ahead of the Lakers.

Not that this was their intention, of course, but questionable decision-making by the Clippers and flawless execution by the Kings over the last two minutes turned a late two-point Clipper lead into a seven-point loss.

Twice in the last minute, the Clippers trailed by three points with a chance to make a defensive stop to get the ball back, and twice they intentionally fouled Mike Bibby, one of the Kings’ best free-throw shooters, when there was no need.

Bibby made all six of his free throws in the last 59 seconds.

“I’m extremely disappointed in the way we closed out this game,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said, undoubtedly echoing the sentiments of many in a crowd of 18,252, the largest to attend a Clipper game in Staples Center this season. “You play your hearts out for 46, 47 minutes, do a lot of really great things and then down the stretch of the game we fell down defensively a couple of times.

“But more than that ... when it was a one-possession game we took two fouls not knowing the clock, not knowing the situation....

“And I told the fellas, I could [not] care less about losing a game as opposed to just not understanding. If somebody beats you and they make shots, that’s one thing.... But to do the things we did, we just gave it to them.”

Not that the Kings needed the help. The NBA’s highest-scoring team, they made 55.1% of their shots, seven of nine from beyond the three-point arc. Only two of the eight Kings who scored made less than half his shots.

Bibby scored 24 points. Doug Christie scored 22, made 10 of 12 shots and had 10 assists. Peja Stojakovic scored 21 points.

But the Clippers, who got 22 points from reserve Predrag Drobnjak and 21 each from Corey Maggette and Quentin Richardson, kept the score close throughout. Having overcome a 12-point second-quarter deficit, they held a 105-103 lead inside of two minutes remaining after Drobnjak, who made eight of 17 shots in his first game since Dec. 17, knocked down a jumper from the wing.

At the other end of the floor, though, Stojakovic used a screen to break free from Maggette for a wide-open three-point shot, igniting a 13-2 run that buried the Clippers.

Still, the Clipper deficit was only 108-105 when Elton Brand fouled Bibby with 58.9 seconds to play as Bibby was bringing the ball up the court.

Later, after a steal by Brand led to a layup by Maggette that made the score 110-107, Bibby was needlessly fouled again, this time by Doug Overton.

Dunleavy, obviously agitated, gestured toward the clock.

Asked later whether it had surprised him that an 11-year veteran such as Overton would take such a foul, Dunleavy said, “I’m surprised anybody [would], no matter how long they’ve been in the league. They’ve been playing basketball for too long to make those kinds of mistakes. I’d be upset if I was coaching an eighth-grade team that didn’t understand that.”

Said a testy Overton: “It was just a bad decision.”

Brand, who had 19 points and nine rebounds, chalked it up as a lesson learned. A painful lesson, perhaps, but a lesson nonetheless.

“To beat a good team, we need to play well down the stretch and that just didn’t happen,” he said. “There were about four or five decisions the last two minutes of the game that really hurt us.”

Up next is the Lakers, losers of five of eight and seemingly in need of a victory with the division lead up for grabs.

“They don’t need one any more than we do,” Dunleavy said.