Chaney Loses His Second Straight as Clippers Lose Eighth Straight

Don Chaney has been the Clippers’ interim coach since Wednesday and has been trying to employ a new offense. But because of the hectic NBA schedule, he still hasn’t put the team through a full practice session.

Friday night’s dismal 117-101 loss to the Chicago Bulls, before 7,626 fans at Chicago Stadium, showed how badly the Clippers are in need of practice time. A lot of it.

They will get about three hours’ worth of instruction today at Kansas City, where they will enjoy their first non-game or non-travel day since Chaney took over.

“I have to take the blame for this (loss), said Chaney, who also lost his debut Wednesday night against Cleveland. “It was my inexperience. I thought I could put in my offense this early, but unless you have at least a couple of days to practice it, you can’t do it.”

What resulted was widespread offensive confusion and poor shooting from every player. Friday’s loss was the Clippers’ eighth straight--their longest losing streak of the season--their 12th straight on the road and their 19th in the last 22 games.

This one wasn’t even as close as the 16-point margin indicated. The Bulls were leading by 26 early in the fourth quarter before “garbage time” ensued.

Clipper General Manager Carl Scheer, depressed as usual afterward, said: “To be honest, I didn’t see anything different (from when Lynam coached). One might say the players are trying harder, but I’m not saying that.”

Chaney agreed with Scheer. Although he says he is “not one for excuses,” Chaney said Friday that the Clippers just didn’t have enough time to adequately adapt to his running game. “It’s like cramming for an exam,” he said. “The players know what I expect of them, but you can’t just walk through it in shoot-arounds on the morning of games or put it on the wall and expect them to learn it. . . . But I told them, if we lose Sunday (in Kansas City), it’s their fault.”

While Clipper players appreciated Chaney’s gesture of accepting blame for Friday’s loss, most didn’t agree with him.

“Most of us have played basketball for a long time,” Bill Walton said. “We should know how to run the offense. It’s not the coach’s fault. It’s our fault. We better learn how to run it.”

For the first 4 1/2 minutes, the Clippers played as if they had been under the same system all season. They sprinted to a 13-2 lead, but by the end of the first quarter, the Bulls had recovered to tie it, 30-30. By halftime, the Bulls had a 58-51 lead and were just beginning to roll. When Chicago Coach Kevin Loughery threw a half-court trap at the Clippers in the third quarter, it didn’t take long for the Clipper offense to come apart. The Clippers made only two baskets in the first six minutes of the quarter, enabling the Bulls to open a 21-point lead.

From that point, the only question would be how many points Michael Jordan and Orlando Woolridge would pile up. Woolridge finished with 28 and Jordan 26, and neither even made an appearance in the fourth quarter.

Derek Smith led the Clippers with 23 points, but made just 8 of 17 shots. Actually, Smith had one of the better shooting nights among the Clippers, whose shooting percentage was only 40%. Marques Johnson was 2 of 12, Norm Nixon 6 of 14, Lancaster Gordon 5 of 15 and Junior Bridgeman 6 of 13.

As if things weren’t going badly enough for the Clippers, the soreness in Walton’s right ankle has worsened to the point where he is basically ineffective. He played 13 minutes Friday, scoring one point and grabbing seven rebounds.

Scheer said Walton might go back on the injured list if the ankle doesn’t improve.

“One thing is obvious--Bill is merely a shadow of his former self,” Scheer said. “He’s just playing on heart. This is the worst I’ve seen him play. He’s very tentative. It’s got to be the ankle.”

Said Walton: “I’m still day-to-day. But I’d like to keep playing.”

Clipper Notes Friday morning, the Clippers waived reserve guard Bryan Warrick, who played for former Clipper coach Jim Lynam at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. Warrick is expected to be replaced with free-agent Franklin Edwards, a 6-1 guard who played three seasons with Philadelphia.

Edwards has joined the team but can’t sign before Monday.