Clippers’ losing streak reaches 12

Welcome to the game that should have been subtitled “The Teams That Time Forgot.”

That’s what happens when one team rolls in with a four-game losing streak, facing another mired in the quicksand of an 11-game drought and both appeared caught in a scoring time warp, combining for 27 points in the first quarter.

Still, something had to give and someone had to start scoring, and the Clippers predictably gave way to the Hawks. Despite having played the previous night, Atlanta defeated the Clippers, 97-80, on Wednesday at Staples Center.

Forward Josh Smith led Atlanta with 26 points and eight rebounds and guard Joe Johnson scored 21. For the Clippers, Al Thornton and Eric Gordon combined for 43 points. And Marcus Camby hit his usual standard of rebounding excellence, a rare bright spot in a down season, grabbing 18 to go with 12 points.

“Another loss,” Camby said. “It’s tough. I’m not going to lie to you.”

He was asked if he knew the length of the losing streak.

“It seems like 30,” Camby said, adding that he thinks Coach Mike Dunleavy “is doing the best that he could with what’s left with a depleted lineup. We’re missing a lot of key guys out there. . . . As a whole, we’ll just have to find a way to get one win and just build from there.”

Said Dunleavy: “We’ll just hold the fort till the cavalry comes.”

Unfortunately, the cavalry is in the training room and the fort is under siege.

It’s 12 games and counting and the Clippers have yet to win in 2009. On deck: matching the 13-game losing streak of the 2003-04 season, which could happen on Saturday against Milwaukee.

Shooting 20% from the field in the first quarter, rocketing up to 28.6% in the second and flirting with season lows in the first half is not the designed route to success. The Clippers tied a season low with 12 points in the first quarter and matched another season low with 31 at the half.

Wins won’t come that way. Not even against the likes of Oklahoma City.

But as the Clippers have often done in the losing streak, they managed to hang around and make it somewhat credible when Thornton found his game, scoring 20 points in the second half after getting only five in the first half. Dunleavy was displeased with Thornton’s energy level in the first half and pulled him but liked the response in the second half.

The Clippers pulled to within five in the third quarter but couldn’t get closer. The slow starts and the bad finishes have continued to haunt them this season. It could have been far worse had the Hawks not struggled early on offense.

“It was sluggish for both teams,” Camby said. “Fifteen and 12 after the first quarter.”

He joked that he was probably 8 years old the last time he was involved in a game that was 15-12 after the first quarter.

“It’s been a long time,” Camby said, laughing.

Etc.

Back in the lineup was swingman Ricky Davis, who had his first game action since Nov. 22. What kept him out so long was a combination of tendinitis in his left knee and a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy

Before the game, Davis spoke for the first time about the suspension and confirmed that it was for failing a drug test. He played nearly 16 minutes, all in the first half, and went one for four from the field against the Hawks.

“It’s tough,” said Davis, who looked subdued. “Just leaving your teammates out there like that. That’s what it’s all about. Letting the guys down. . . . I’ll talk to the guys. It’s behind me. It’s more or less focused on what I need to do.”

He was asked if the positive drug test was for a performance-enhancing substance or of a recreational nature. “No, no, no . . . not steroids,” he said.

And the injured knee?

“Not 100% yet, about 90% maybe,” he said. “But it’s no pain. That’s what we were shooting at.”

Reserve point guard Jason Hart’s battle with his sore right elbow continued, keeping him out of the lineup against Atlanta.

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com