Clippers Remain Close to Hawks for a While, but Then Lose, 117-103

The Clippers lost again Tuesday night, but this time they delayed the agony of defeat considerably longer than usual.

Eventually, though, the Clippers let the Atlanta Hawks have their way with them. The result was a 117-103 Hawks’ win before a crowd of 5,246 at the Omni.

Any positive signs are welcome for the Clippers at this point in an Eastern road swing. The positive the Clippers clinged to Tuesday was the fact that this loss wasn’t nearly as lopsided and embarrassing as the first two road losses to Cleveland and Indiana.

But General Manager Carl Scheer, who joined the team Monday, wasn’t exactly pleased with what he saw. Scheer has been talking to teams about trades, and guard Norm Nixon has been a topic of many conversations.

“It’s obvious we’ve got to make some changes,” Scheer said after Tuesday’s game. “We’ve got to make a trade. We don’t have the talent now to compete with other teams.”

The Clippers (11-24) remained close to Atlanta through three quarters, entering the fourth period trailing by just six points (85-79).

There haven’t been many times recently that the Clippers have been in a position to win, and it seemed as though they didn’t know how to respond. So, they reverted to form and let Atlanta and jumping jack forward Dominique Wilkins dominate.

Atlanta outscored the Clippers, 20-12, in the final 5:41, Wilkins scoring eight of the Hawks points.

“We’ve got to play about perfect basketball on the road to win,” Clipper Coach Don Chaney said. “We were right there and then we forgot what we did that got us to that point.”

What the Clippers did right for three quarters was force the ball to the middle on offense and try to get Atlanta’s three 7-footers in foul trouble. They also had Norm Nixon consistently sinking outside shots, which kept the Hawks’ defense busy.

Then, the fourth quarter arrived and the Clippers checked out.

“We just had some mental mistakes and that cost us,” Clipper forward Cedric Maxwell said. “When we get to a point where we can win the game, we’ve got to tighten the screws a little more.”

Instead, the Clippers’ throats tightened and the Hawks used the fourth quarter to pad their scoring averages.

Wilkins had a game-high 37 points, making 11 of 19 shots and all 15 free throws he attempted. Guard Randy Wittman added 18 points and 7-foot forward Kevin Willis 15 and 13 rebounds.

Nixon led the Clippers with 24 points in his best all-around game of the season. Maxewll added 19 and Marques Johnson 15.

Once again, the Clippers were outrebounded. Atlanta held a 47-37 advantage, but it could have been worse considering their size advantage. The Clippers also shot 49% to the Hawks’ 53%.

Scheer has talked to several teams--Seattle, Chicago and New York--about a trade involving Nixon, but Scheer says he is not close to a deal.

But the New York Times reported Monday that former Knick General Manager Dave DeBusschere recently turned down a trade that would have sent Nixon to New York for off guard Darrell Walker and backup center James Bailey. It was reported that the deal was close to completion, but DeBusschere balked.

Now that Scotty Stirling has taken over as the Knicks’ general manager, there is talk that the deal will be revived. But if Nixon continues to play as he did Tuesday, Scheer might hang up the next time the Knicks call.

Scheer said Tuesday he talked to DeBusschere as late as last Thursday and had a conversation with Stirling Monday night, but he denied that a trade involving the players mentioned in the New York Times story was proposed.

“I’ve been talking to the Knicks, but it’s not involving Norman,” Scheer said. “Norman’s name has come up recently, but that was not the central part of the talks. I’ve talked to the Knicks about 9 or 10 players on our roster.

“On the same day I last talked to DeBusschere, I talked to eight other general managers. That story is a half-truth. We talked seriously about one of the players involved, but I won’t tell you which.”

If the Clippers want to trade Nixon--”I won’t say that I haven’t thought about it, but (now) it’s not a possibility,” Scheer said--they would have to ask him to waive the no-trade clause in his contract.

“This is a surprise to me,” said Nixon, who suffered a minor sprained right ankle late in Tuesday’s game. “I don’t know what to think.”

Meanwhile, Scheer emphatically stated that he is not on this trip to decide the fate of Coach Don Chaney or to trade players.

“I thought about making this trip even before we took this recent swan dive,” Scheer said. “I’m not here on a head-hunting mission. I’m here on an ongoing mission to evaluate our team. That’s a GM’s job.”

Clipper Notes

The Clippers caught a flight to Philadelphia an hour after Tuesday night’s game. They will meet the 76ers tonight at the Spectrum (Channel 5, delayed at 6) in what shapes up as a rematch between Cedric Maxwell and Charles Barkley. The players revived their feud with a fight Dec. 26 at the Sports Arena. Clipper teammate Franklin Edwards is calling this rematch the “Dilly in Philly.” . . . Coach Don Chaney met with Atlanta Hawks assistant Coach Willis Reed for nearly three hours Monday in the hotel lobby to discuss enigmatic rookie center Benoit Benjamin. Reed coached Benjamin three years at Creighton.