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Clippers Still Woeful Road Warriors : Pro basketball: They lose, 104-100, at Phoenix as Suns hold Harper to 12 points. Los Angeles is 0-10 on the road.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Reaching the .500 mark by the end of the month, an unofficial goal for some players, disappeared amid another Clipper offensive malfunction Saturday night, fittingly on the road.

Missing good scoring opportunities all night, they lost to the Phoenix Suns, 104-100, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Maybe the Clippers were tired after playing four games in a week, including back-to-back on the road.

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“Tired?” Ron Harper said. “We played like we were tired, but we shouldn’t be tired. We are practicing hard, but we’re getting time off. We just need to get a different attitude on the road. . . . Some guys come in and are laughing and joking anytime we’re on the road.”

The Clippers, 0-10 away from the Sports Arena, have little to smile about anytime they get near an airport.

They used an 8-2 run in the fourth quarter Saturday night to pull within 91-96 with 2:38 remaining. It was a five-point difference, 98-93, when Harper made two free throws with 1:10 to play.

But that’s as close as the Clippers (9-14) got. To get there, though, took some doing.

Charles Smith got his third foul with 3:32 to go in the first quarter. He played 21 minutes, getting 19 points and seven rebounds.

Ken Norman played 20 minutes, hitting three of 11 attempts.

Harper made five of 12 shots en route to 12 points.

Welcome to the Clipper scoring. Or at least where it usually comes from.

As expected, the Suns juggled the lineup to slow down Harper, but with a twist. With Dan Majerle moved from forward to guard to matchup with Harper, Tim Perry started at forward. The same Tim Perry who had not played in three consecutive games and, like several other young players, had fallen in such disfavor with Cotton Fitzsimmons that the Suns’ coach promised last week that they wouldn’t play much.

“I’m done fooling around,” is how Fitzsimmons put it to local reporters last week. “I’m going to use players who know how to play the game. If I have to play my young guys, we’re in trouble.”

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When it came down to it, the Suns weren’t so much in trouble as playing the Clippers. Majerle, one young Sun whom Fitzsimmons raves about, held Harper to three-of-14 shooting in the last meeting. This time, L.A.’s top scoring threat went four of 11 in the first half--two dunks and two layups accounting for the makes.

Harper discounted the Majerle factor, with emphasis.

“It’s easy to guard somebody when they don’t have the ball,” Harper said, noting he wanted his teammates to get into the offensive flow early.

And: “When they (the Suns) come to L.A., we’ll see if he shuts me down.”

The Clippers made only 39.1% of their field goal attempts in the first half and trailed, 49-40, at the intermission. That included an 18-point second quarter.

Jeff Hornacek, who went from starter to reserve in the temporary lineup, looked like a star in any role. He had a season-high 28 points, including 13 in the first half on six-of-six shooting.

“Defense and intensity carried us through the ballgame,” Fitzsimmons said. “When we had to stop (the Clippers) we did. . . . It was an up-tempo game, which is what we like. Kurt Rambis made some key plays for us. Jeff Hornacek lit it up again tonight. Tim Perry was fine. He’s young and he makes some mistakes, but he gave us what we needed to win. He did a fine job on Norman. Dan Majerle did an outstanding job on Harper.”

Smiles all around for Phoenix, which hasn’t exactly been the norm for a team that has struggled at times after reaching the Western Conference finals last season. Against the Clippers, the Suns got 23 points from Tom Chambers and 10 rebounds from Mark West to complement Hornacek.

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Rambis, typically crowd-pleasing with the same workman-like attitude that made him a favorite in Los Angeles, had nine points and six rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench. But his biggest plays came in helping to force the Clippers into one of their 19 turnovers.

Soon after Smith’s jumper from the right side cut the Suns’ lead to 96-91, Rambis, acquired in a Dec. 13 trade with the Charlotte Hornets, stripped the ball from Smith as the Clipper forward came down the lane. That started a fast break that resulted in Kevin Johnson’s layup for a seven-point cushion.

On the next Clipper possession, Gary Grant got caught in traffic and looked for an outlet. Rambis stepped in front of his pass. The Suns didn’t convert it into another basket, but the Clippers, fresh off the 8-2 rally, never made another run.

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