Clippers Can’t Shake Past in Loss to Warriors

The inverted Pacific Division flipped Tuesday night when the teams seemed to return to their rightful places.

The Golden State Warriors, shooting 39.4% through two dreadful performances, were revived in time to appease some anxious fans and a stressed-out coach. The Clippers, who seemed so full of life opening the season, went flat.

The result was a 118-94 victory for the Warriors in front of 15,025 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

Playing without injured Charles Smith and with Joe Wolf again getting three fouls in the first quarter, the Clippers went much of the way without two starters. That might explain why they had trouble inside against a team suddenly deep in 7-footers--Uwe Blab and Alton Lister being off-season additions to complement Manute Bol. But that does nothing to explain 27 turnovers or 40% shooting.

The Warriors, who built a big lead and cruised for most of the second half, did everything they were unable to do on the season’s first weekend. The Clippers, who never got into much of an offensive flow, served as outlets to Golden State’s frustration.

“They defensed us very well,” Clipper Coach Don Casey said. “They took us out of a lot of stuff, and we’re not very good at improvising right now.”

The Warriors, who lost Lister for at least six weeks, and perhaps the season, with a torn right Achilles’ tendon in the third quarter, also made it tough for the Clippers with solid shooting. A 58.7% performance from the field turned out to be a good defense.

“We couldn’t run,” guard Gary Grant said. “We’re never going to run if we always have to take the ball out of the net.”

The Golden State reputation, shaky after blowout losses to open the season, regained its footing, as Chris Mullin made 12 of 18 shots for 32 points and Mitch Richmond added 21. The highest-scoring tandem in the league of 1988-89 made like old times.

So, too, did Michael Young. The 1984 first-round draft choice of the Boston Celtics who floated around the NBA and Continental Basketball Assn. since, has been a surprise so far. He had 19 points off the bench in the opener and 24 points and 14 rebounds as a starter Tuesday.

At least for appearances, this was an important game for the Warriors. A similar showing against the Clippers could have sent a few people reaching for the life rafts.

Golden State, after all, gave up 136 points in a season-opening loss to Phoenix and 132 in the home opener against Houston. To put that start in perspective, the Clippers, the league’s third-worst defensive team team last season, gave up 132 points or more six times in regulation games in all 1988-89.

“It was awful,” Warrior Coach Don Nelson said after beating the Clippers for the sixth consecutive time at home. “I got into a mood like when I was at Milwaukee that now we’ve arrived and we could automatically add five or eight more wins and, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to play like this all the time?’ But that’s not fair to this team. We’ve got a lot of good pieces, but they’re not together yet.”

This was no time to panic, however. Not with the Clippers in town.

The same team that had an emotional victory in its season opener showed little carry-over. Then again, the Clippers showed little of anything, particularly in the first half.

The Golden State lead reached double figures with 10:52 to play in the half, 34-24. After a 14-2 run over 4:04 of the second quarter, it was 18, 44-26 and, finally, 21 points, 55-34, on Richmond’s layup with 3:13 remaining. By halftime, the Clippers trailed, 57-38.

The Clippers shot only 38.6% in the first half; the Warriors, 58.3%. Los Angeles shot 40% for the game.

The Clippers’ early offense, came from Ken Norman, a likely source, and Young. Norman, who plays some of his best games against Golden State, had 14 points, and Young had 13. The other nine who played combined for 11 first-half points.

Things continued at that pace the rest of the way. The Warriors had passed an unexpectedly critical test, but how much had they improved?

Nelson saw great improvement.

Casey saw lots of problems.

“If we dig ourselves a hole, it’s not easy to dig back out . . . particularly against a team like this who has five little guys who are difficult to trap,” Casey said. “It had all the markings of a 30-, 40-, 50-point game.”

In that sense, at least, they got off easy.

Clipper Notes

Just when his left wrist was finally healing, Ken Norman injured his right hand during a fall in the second half of the season opener against Houston. The Clippers’ leading scorer last season said the second injury hasn’t bothered him much in practices, even though it is his shooting hand. “I’m just thankful there was no game from Friday until now,” he said. . . . Golden State’s Marques Johnson, who made his first regular-season appearance against his former team, said there is no special motivation playing the Clippers. He had a drawn-out legal battle with the Clippers over compensation from a neck injury suffered when he bumped into Benoit Benjamin. “It was more so in the first exhibition game,” said Johnson, who made the Warriors as a free agent. “Getting there (the Sports Arena) and rehashing that collision when I ran into Benoit. But now it’s just a matter of going out to try and win.”

Tim Hardaway, the Warriors’ first-round pick who struggled in the first two games, was hospitalized with tonsillitis. Winston Garland started in his place. . . . The Clippers’ victory Friday was their first in a season opener since 1985, when the team won five in a row.