Clippers Aren’t in Trip Shape

MIAMI —  That’s one way to start a trip.

Of course, it wasn’t the way the Clippers would have preferred.

They lost to the Miami Heat, 97-88, on Friday night when Lamar Odom, cut loose by the Clippers last summer, hit them for 25 points and 14 rebounds in front of 14,346 in American Airlines Arena.

Corey Maggette banged a dunk off the back of the rim.

Quentin Richardson missed one too.

The Clippers had a season-high 17 of their 24 turnovers in the second half, when a six-point halftime lead evaporated. They wound up with their seventh loss in eight road games since Dec. 20 and their 13th in 15 since Nov. 14.

“It’s not hard analyzing this one,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Turnovers [in] the second half just buried us. ...

“Some of them, I guess were invisible,” he said of the Heat players. “They were standing right in front of us. ...Some of the plays we made were just mindless, in a sense. You couldn’t believe that we tried to make that play.”

Opening an eight-game trip, their longest in 14 years, the Clippers had an early eight-point lead and led at halftime, 50-44, against a sub-.500 team they’d lost to two weeks earlier, 87-85, at Staples Center.

In the second half, though, the Clippers were outscored, 53-36. Their turnovers led to nearly half of the Heat’s second-half points and, with defensive stopper Bobby Simmons on the injured list, the Clippers had no answer for Odom, who had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists after halftime.

The Clippers are 4-14 on the road, 1-5 against Eastern Conference teams. Ahead are seven more road games over 12 days, leading into the All-Star break, after which they’ll open with four of five on the road.

“We need to learn how to keep that advantage and to finish the games,” point guard Marko Jaric said. “There’s no big difference between us and the team that’s going to win the championship. The difference is in small things that they do but we’re not doing right now. If we want to be a big team, if we want to make a run for the playoffs, we need to do this stuff.”

At 20-27, the Heat is no power, nor does it even have a better winning percentage than the Clippers, who are 19-25. Still, the Heat swept the season series, much to the delight of Odom, who played four seasons with the Clippers before signing a six-year, $64-million offer sheet with the Heat last summer that was not matched by the Clippers.

“I was put in a situation [by] them where I had to prove myself a little bit,” Odom said. “That’s what my whole year has been about. Nobody thought I was really any good. It’s not personal but I’m ... mentally focused against them.”

He also seemed more comfortable than he had been in Staples Center, where the crowd made it clear he was an unwelcome guest even before he made a winning defensive stop against Maggette in the closing seconds.

“I’ve never been booed by 20,000 people every time I got the ball, so I was ... a little shell-shocked,” he said. “Here, I was able to relax a little bit.”

Elton Brand led the Clippers with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

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Though he was averaging 19.9 points and 12.1 rebounds before Friday’s game, Brand did not place among the top 10 Western Conference forwards in fan voting for the All-Star Game. “It’s about winning,” he said. “When we start winning from end to end, I’m sure the notice will come.” Dunleavy said he would lobby other coaches on Brand’s behalf in an effort to get him in the game as a reserve. “It always helps to let guys know that you really like somebody and that he works hard for you and he’s a good guy,” Dunleavy said. The result of the coaches’ vote will be announced Tuesday. ...Clipper reserve Keyon Dooling, out the previous five games, did not dress because of a sprained left ankle and is listed as day to day.