Clippers Fall; Shue Is Expected to Go Next

The Clippers lost for the 10th straight time, 130-107, Tuesday night to the Seattle SuperSonics, the sixth double-digit defeat in their last seven games, but it’s the immediate future, and not the past, that has taken on the most importance for Coach Gene Shue.

In a nutshell: Beat the Lakers tonight at the Forum, or lose your job.

“I think that, barring some unexpected event, you can expect a change Thursday morning,” said one team official who requested anonymity. “We’re running out of miracles.”

That unexpected event would be an impressive showing against the Lakers, which seems highly unlikely the way the Clippers are playing.

Their losing streak includes a 116-95 defeat by the Lakers just 3 days ago at the Sports Arena, and the performance against the SuperSonics did nothing to warrant hope for Shue.

The timing of a change Thursday, rather than today, is intentional.

For one, it would save Don Casey, the lone Clipper assistant coach and Shue’s probable replacement, the task of opening against the division-leading Lakers.

Second, after tonight the Clippers don’t play until next Wednesday, so they could shop around for Casey’s replacement as the No. 2 man while also getting 6 days to regroup. A mini-camp during the time off has been discussed, although a site or decision has yet to be made.

Shue, the winningest and losingest active coach in the National Basketball Assn., remains optimistic. He again faced the questions about his precarious job status after the Clippers lost for the 21st time in their last 25 outings and reacted in character.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I always think in a positive way,” he said. “I thought tonight that something good might happen, even though Seattle had won 12 in a row at home. We had a good team meeting today and knew what we wanted to do. I had good thoughts going tonight and will have the same tomorrow.

“I don’t know what other people are thinking. But I know we need players.”

Tuesday, with guards Gary Grant (bruised thigh) and Tom Garrick (sprained ankle) at home because of injuries, the Clippers stayed close for almost 1 1/2 quarters. That was a major improvement from their last meeting when Seattle won, 154-104.

But that was the only deviation in the copy-cat killing by the SuperSonics. Seattle opened a 17-point lead in the first quarter in the December meeting, but this game the Clippers were in it midway through the second period, when it was tied, 38-38.

The SuperSonics then went super sonic, using a 31-8 run over the final 6:34 of the quarter to lead, 69-46, at halftime. Dale Ellis, the league’s third-best scorer at 28.6 points a game coming in, scored 11 during the streak en route to his game-high 28.

Seattle, coming off a poor performance in the 146-117 loss Monday night at Golden State, pushed the advantage to 29 points, 96-67, with 1:27 to play in the third quarter. The lead reached 30 several times, initially, 123-93, with 3:02 remaining in the game.

Having finished off Shue and the Clippers, Seattle Coach Bernie Bickerstaff then praised him. Or at least offered a little defense.

“How can you keep threatening a guy (with firing him) with all those young players and the top player (Danny Manning) out for the season?” asked Bickerstaff, an assistant under Shue with the Washington Bullets. “But Gene’s a survivor.”

Clipper Notes

Quintin Dailey and Ken Norman each had 20 points to lead the Clippers, and Norman added 13 rebounds. “Offensively, I’ve been struggling a little bit,” Norman said. “So I’ve just been going to the backboards to try to help the team in some way.” . . . Norman is the most vocal Shue supporter on the team. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I think a lot of the blame has been put on him and I don’t know that it’s fair. Ultimately, we (the players) have to go out and do our jobs.”