It’s Dog Days of Winter for Struggling Clippers, Who Lose to Phoenix

The Clippers rolled over and played dead against the Phoenix Suns, who beat them, 132-101, Saturday night before a crowd of 11,372 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Clippers (5-33) have lost 30 of their last 32 games and two straight since trading team captain Cedric Maxwell to Houston Friday for two draft picks.

The Clippers don’t have an inside game without Maxwell.

“We lost with Max and we’re losing now,” said Clipper forward Kenny Fields, who scored a team-high 20 points. “You run out of answers after a while. I don’t know what it is. Something is wrong. We’ve got too much talent to be playing like this.”

How much do the Clippers miss Maxwell?

“I think they miss him,” said Phoenix guard Walter Davis, who scored a game-high 27 points. “I was very surprised that they let him get away.”

Said Clipper guard Mike Woodson: “I don’t think Cedric could have helped us tonight. We were never in this game from beginning to end.

“We’ve won 5 of 37 (actually 38) games and that’s ridiculous. It looks like it’s going to be tough to win 10 games. I just want to make it respectable.”

Said Clipper Coach Don Chaney: “We’re going to have to get some bodies in here quick. Maybe there are some guys in the CBA who can help us.”

The Clippers didn’t have anyone who could stop Davis, Alvan Adams, Larry Nance and Jay Humphries.

Davis, who had a career-high 45 points in the Suns’ 123-107 win over Utah Thursday night, had another big game against the Clippers.

Davis hit 10 of 13 shots and 7 of 8 free throws. He also passed off for 8 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds as the Suns won their second straight game after losing four in a row.

“Walter Davis was literally unstoppable,” Chaney said. “A couple of times, we had guys all over him, but he was in the groove. If he’s going good, you can have Manute Bol on him and he’s going to score.”

The Suns set a Coliseum record by making 69% of their shots, hitting 56 of 81. Phoenix tied a team record by making 19 of 22 shots in the fourth period, when they also had a team-record 17 assists.

The Suns blitzed the Clippers, 20-4, at the start of the fourth period to turn the game into a rout.

“I don’t ever remember seeing this team collectively miss so many layups,” Chaney said. “We played poor defense. Our effort was bad and our execution was bad.”

Adams got Phoenix going early in the game, scoring 15 points in the first period. Adams finished with 17 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Adams made 8 of 9 shots and 1 of 2 free throws.

“A lot of times Alvan has open shots, and the ball doesn’t go down. But tonight, he made a lot of those short shots,” Sun Coach John MacLeod said. “He’s got a good touch in there, and that gives us another offensive weapon when he’s able to do that.”

Said Adams: “I think our offense was going great. Coach told us at halftime that we had 26 assists and said that must be a mistake. But we looked at the stat sheet and we saw that we had 28 field goals and 26 of those were aided by assists.”

Nance, who wasn’t expected to play because of a sprained ankle, came off the bench to score 20 points. He made 7 of 8 shots and 6 of 8 free throws.

Humphries, the former Inglewood High School star, had 18 points and 10 assists. Jeff Hornacek led the Suns with 10 assists.

Clipper forward Michael Cage, who has been carrying the club on his massive shoulders, had an off night. He had 12 points and 8 rebounds, which broke his streak of 19 consecutive games in which he had scored and rebounded in double figures.

Clipper Notes

A San Antonio TV station reported Saturday night that the San Antonio Spurs had traded Mike Mitchell to the Clippers. However, the Clippers denied the report. “There’s nothing to that,” Clipper General Counsel Arn Tellem said. And Clipper Coach Don Chaney said: “It’s absolutely false. I have no knowledge of that whatsoever.” Mitchell has scored just 21 points in his last 6 games because of injuries. . . . The Clippers will conclude their trip Monday night when they play the Spurs at San Antonio.