Clippers 0 for 9 on Road : NBA: Ron Harper scores 23 points and keeps L.A. close, but Mavericks get tough down the stretch for 101-92 victory.

The Clippers were teasing themselves again Friday night, playing another close game on the road that belies a winless record.

And then the final five minutes came.

And the Clippers went.

Scoring only six points in the final 4:53, four of which came on free throws, took care of that, and the Dallas Mavericks handled the rest to secure a 101-92 victory before 16,911 at Reunion Arena.

Ron Harper, coming off back-to-back 39-point games, could not win it this time. The Clipper guard again was the offense down the stretch, but, thanks to Rolando Blackman, who had a defensive effort to match his 31 points, it wasn’t nearly enough to deny the Mavericks their ninth straight home win in the series.

“I thought we had him (Harper) in a little bit of a flow,” Coach Don Casey said after the Clippers dropped to 9-13. “Maybe the other nights were a bit special. Maybe we learned tonight we can’t put the pressure on him all the time, that we have to have other guys to go to.”

If so, none were to be found.

“They (the Mavericks) were creeping away with it and no one wanted to take the shot to get us back in it,” said guard Gary Grant. “When someone did, we were rushing because time was running out.”

Here’s how the Clipper offense clunked out in the final minutes:

--With 4:52 remaining, Harper made a running jump shot inside to cut the Maverick lead to 90-89.

--With 2:16 remaining, Harper made two free throws to make it 97-91.

--With 1:10 remaining, Harper connected on one of two free throws, the last of his team-high 23 points.

The Clippers made six of 16 shots in the fourth quarter to lose by nine. They have also recently lost by seven at Portland, by four at Seattle and by eight to the Lakers.

Four road losses by an average of seven points. But it’s 0-9 away from the Sports Arena by any margin.

“We can’t be frustrated,” Harper said. “It’s still early in the year, we’re still a young ballclub, and if we keep playing hard we’re going to win one on the road. I don’t know when, but we will.”

Blackman had 20 of his 31 points in the second half. But defense has helped the Mavericks hold four of their last six opponents to less than 100 points.

Coach Richie Adubato has the Mavericks pressuring more on defense. But if a defender loses his man, the alignment can switch to provide more double-teaming.

No need. Blackman, averaging 20.8 points, made sure his man saw several stop signs before getting too much momentum.

“Harper got around him a few times, but the big guys came up and challenged the ball,” said Adubato, who is 7-6 since replacing the fired John MacLeod. “He had to throw some Michael Jordan shots up.”

Unlike recent games, Harper didn’t get positive results. In another change from the immediate past, the Clippers didn’t win.

Their first three-game winning streak is history. Their quest to win away from L.A., however, is very much a current event.

Clipper Notes

Mark Termini, the Cleveland-based agent for Ron Harper, will arrive in Los Angeles Christmas Day and hopes to begin talks with the Clippers next week on a new contract for his client, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. “We feel we’re in a very positive situation in L. A.,” Termini said. “The Clippers have made it known they would like to sit down and discuss a contract, so we thought some preliminary talks would be good for both sides.” Harper is in line for a long-term contract and a big raise. His current contract, a four-year deal signed with Cleveland after being the eighth selection in the 1986 draft, pays $650,000 this season, less than half of what several Clipper regulars earn.

Backup center Ken Bannister missed his second straight game with a groin strain. . . . Maverick center James Donaldson on his former team: “They have a strong bunch of players they can go to, and if they can get Benoit (Benjamin) to go into his annual 30-game run when he plays really well, they can do really well. I think they will be a playoff team this year.”

Dallas guard Rolando Blackman, who was born in Panama and still has relatives there, stayed awake far into the night after the Mavericks’ game Wednesday at Charlotte to watch news reports of the U.S. invasion. Blackman, who moved with his parents to New York when he was eight and became a U.S. citizen in 1986, says the homeland remains close to his heart. In fact, he attended Kansas State partly because the campus greenery reminded him of Panama.

Sacramento plays the Mavericks tonight, and Jerry Reynolds, the Kings’ coach who is preparing to move upstairs to become director of player personnel, is expected to interview John MacLeod about being his replacement. MacLeod, fired by Dallas Nov. 29, is the clear front-runner for the job and has said he is interested in talking about it, but that he has options and will not grab something just to stay in the game. The biggest option: Get paid a reported $250,000 for each of the next two seasons by the Mavericks as part of his guaranteed contract.