Clippers Hit Season Low in Loss to Rockets : Basketball: Spirits lifted by trade and signing earlier in the day are lowered by cold shooting that produces 82 points.

They came, they saw, they traded, they signed, they lost. Not your ordinary Clipper day, except for the ending.

“We seem to have gotten into a pattern,” Coach Don Casey said. “We play a great game, have a light practice the next day, and then it’s like the guys are meeting each other for the first time.”

Fine and good in the week ahead, but newcomer-to-be Ron Harper and newly-signed Benoit Benjamin were nowhere near as the Clippers lost at the Summit for the seventh consecutive time, 94-82, to a Houston Rocket team that got 27 points from Otis Thorpe and 18 points and 16 rebounds from Akeem Olajuwon.

The 82 points is a season-low for the Clippers (2-4), and betters (worsens?) any point total from last season. It was also the fewest points the Rockets have allowed since Feb. 21, 1987.

Coming off an emotional home win over Denver, the Clippers slipped back into their road uniforms and wore them like a suit of armor. They had, after all, beaten the Rockets by 14 in the season opener Nov. 3 at the Sports Arena.

But here? They received scoring from the backcourt--Gary Grant with 21 points and Tom Garrick keeping Harper’s spot at shooting guard very warm with 16 points on six-of-nine shooting--but nothing else. No one had more than nine rebounds.

“They had more confidence at home,” Rocket Coach Don Chaney said. “But we also helped them out there with turnovers. I thought the biggest thing was we took care of the basketball, not so much what they did and did not do.”

The Clippers trailed only 70-67 entering the fourth quarter, but Houston opened the lead to 10 with 5:52 remaining. The Clippers were outscored, 24-15, in the final 12 minutes.

Olajuwon, playing with a jammed thumb and forefinger on his left hand that made it difficult to catch or grip the ball, had 12 points and seven rebounds in the second half.

Clipper Notes

When the Benoit Benjamin signing is approved by the league today, the Clippers will most likely have to make a cut, unless they discover someone suddenly has a previously-unknown injury. . . . More trade fall-out: Reggie Williams returns to the Sports Arena Dec. 7, when the Clippers play host to Cleveland, and he said Thursday he can already imagine being pumped up a little more than normal. “I probably will be,” he said. “But I won’t go overboard. I’ll be excited to play in every one with them (Cleveland).” . . . Don Casey’s reaction on never getting to coach Danny Ferry: “He don’t know what he missed.”