Clippers Are One Foot Shy : Pro Basketball: Charles Smith’s last-second, three-point attempt is ruled a two-point basket, so the Spurs win, 90-89.

It’s not David vs. Goliath anymore, and that’s the problem with playing the San Antonio Spurs these days. David is Goliath.

That would be 7-foot-1 David Robinson, who contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds to a 90-89 victory over the Clippers Friday night before 13,916 at the Sports Arena. But Robinson, like most of the other Spurs, didn’t have an opinion on the most controversial play of the Clippers’ season.

With the Clippers behind by three points, Charles Smith took the ball just before midcourt, dribbled up, swished a running jumper at the last moment from what he thought was three-point territory. . . .

And then had referee Earl Strom call it a two-pointer.

“I put two fingers up,” said Strom, a veteran official who was standing in front of the San Antonio bench about 10 feet from where Smith took off. “It was my call. I saw one foot clearly inside the line.”

Television replays disagreed. And, not surprisingly, so did Smith.

“That’s just no respect,” he said. “We were playing at home, and it shouldn’t have been close. Everyone else would have gotten it. That’s just no respect.”

The Clippers saw the replay and moaned. The Spurs saw it and bit their tongues.

“I ain’t gonna comment,” San Antonio Coach Larry Brown said just after seeing the VCR replay.

Despite getting overwhelmed on the boards, 67-50, the Clippers (3-6) managed to stay close most of the way, San Antonio’s biggest cushion being nine late in the first quarter. The Clippers’ first lead since the second quarter came with 9:43 remaining in the game, when Tom Garrick made two free throws to make it 78-76.

The Spurs, who play the Lakers Sunday night at the Forum, went back ahead, but only briefly. The Clippers regained the lead, 84-82, with 3:48 to play on jumper by Ron Harper, a rare sight on this night.

From there, San Antonio ran off five unanswered points--two on Sean Elliott’s jumper from the right side, two more on free throws by Robinson and, for an 87-84 advantage with 48 seconds left, Frank Brickowski’s free throw.

Smith responded with two free throws to draw the Clippers to within one, 87-86, and they had a chance to move back ahead when San Antonio’s Terry Cummings missed a jumper. But Gary Grant’s pass to Ken Norman, who was streaking down the right side, went off his outstretched hands. Norman said he expected a sharp pass from Grant and was out of position when the lob came.

Norman’s opportunity for redemption went awry, too. Fouled with 5.1 seconds to play and the Spurs ahead, 88-86, he missed the first free throw and lost the chance to tie. After a 20-second timeout by the Clippers, he made the second.

Robinson sealed San Antonio’s third consecutive win by hitting both free throws with 3.4 seconds to play, making it 90-87, As it turned out, the Spurs would need those points later.

“Half the team was celebrating, half the team wasn’t,” said Smith, who finished with 22 points to tie Harper and Elliott for game-high honors. “Then I realized why. It was a three. I looked down and jumped into the air and took the shot.”

The first half didn’t do much to dispel Harper’s reputation as a poor outside shooter. Coming off a 21-point performance in his Clipper debut Wednesday night, he missed his first six attempts and finished the half making only two of 12, both baskets coming on layups. He did, however, have 10 points on six-of-six shooting from the free-throw line.

Norman had 14 of his 19 in the first half as the Spurs opened a 56-52 advantage. By that time, the Clippers had already been outrebounded, 40-20. San Antonio had beaten its opponents on the boards in seven of the previous nine games.

The Clippers opened the third quarter by not scoring on seven consecutive trips downcourt. Harper finally stopped that by turning Grant’s lob pass into a slam dunk with 5:12 to play, cutting the Spurs’ lead to 64-62.

Norman’s layup, off a nice assist by Harper, tied the score, 64-64, with 4:09 left, but the Clippers could not move ahead. San Antonio went on a 10-4 run, accounting for the 74-70 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Clipper Notes

Tom Garrick had moved up to No. 3 in the league in field goal percentage at 62.3% heading into the game. Charles Barkley of Philadelphia was at 65% and Cliff Levingston of Atlanta 64.3%. In the previous four outings, Garrick had a 64.7% (22 of 34) success rate. . . . The 15 rebounds Ron Harper had in his Clipper debut Wednesday night was one less than his career best. . . . San Antonio rookie Sean Elliott, the first-round draft choice from the University of Arizona, on his memories of the Sports Arena, home of USC: “A lot of wins.”. . . The Clippers continue among the league leaders in forcing turnovers. Their 20.8 per game heading into play Friday is bettered only by Milwaukee at 22.1.