Clippers Get Short End Again : Pro basketball: For the second game in a row, they see hopes dashed in the final seconds as Sacramento wins, 99-97.

Once again, it came down to the end for the Clippers.

For the third time in their last four games, the result was decided in the final seconds. And for the second consecutive time, the Clippers lost.

Friday, they blew two great chances in the final three seconds, and Monday afternoon it was about the shot that didn’t come.

Charles Smith’s attempt to send the game into overtime was blocked by Antoine Carr, giving the Sacramento Kings a 99-97 victory at the Sports Arena. The same Antoine Carr who made the winning shot with 8.7 seconds to play.

This is what’s known as making a good entrance. Acquired from Atlanta last Tuesday, he scored 17 points in one game, 24 in another, and now this. A three-footer against Danny Manning in the low post and the mano-a-mano block on Smith’s free-throw line jumper. Carr scored all seven of his points in the second half.

“It was like a man being let out of prison,” said Carr of the trade from the Hawks. “I finally got out.”

The Clippers said they were robbed by the officiating, not the first time they have made such a claim.

Trailing by two after Carr’s basket, Jeff Martin caught Manning’s pass under the basket and was pushed from behind by Harold Pressley.

The Kings had a foul to give, so the Clippers got the ball out of bounds. But some players claimed Martin was shooting on the lob play when shoved, which would have sent him to the free-throw line with a chance to tie it.

Martin admitted he didn’t have control of the ball.

On the next try, with 1.6 seconds to work with, Smith and Carr went vertical together. Carr kept a hand in the shooter’s face the whole way. Some said he had the other arm on Smith’s body, too.

“The ref made the call,” said Smith, who finished with 31 points, but was shut out in the fourth quarter. “The game’s over with.”

Said Sacramento Coach Dick Motta: “Antoine blocked him so hard he threw the guy to the floor with the force. Part of it was a flop looking for the foul, which I understand. I’d have turned blue and hit the ground.”

So that’s how it ended. The Clippers (21-29) hold Sacramento to one basket in the final three minutes and come up empty.

More than the game gave the Clippers reason to feel sick. The flu bug has been around the team since the end of the All-Star break, but for the first time forced someone to miss more than practice, when Benoit Benjamin stayed home Monday.

With him out, the Clippers went to a more conventional lineup, moving Ken Norman from shooting guard back to his more natural small forward position, but also added more inexperience, Martin, to the starting unit.

When it came time to play, all the Clippers looked queasy. They made four field goals in the first quarter and closed by missing their final eight attempts. They were outscored, 10-0, to finish the period. They trailed, 30-16.

During the second quarter, however, things perked up. The Clippers, who beat the Kings by 30 points Dec. 2 at the Sports Arena and lost by 32 Jan. 22 at Sacramento, opened with a run of 13-0.

The run got the Clippers within one, and they soon were in the lead, if only temporarily. The Kings were up at halftime, 46-44.

“It took us a while to find out how to score and what was going on without Ben,” Smith said.

In the third quarter, the Clippers scored 34 points and led, 78-77, heading into the final 12 minutes.

They were ahead by as many as three in the fourth quarter, 84-81 and 86-83, before the Kings rallied. Two jumpers by Danny Ainge (29 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds), another by Carr and a Rodney McCray layup, and it was suddenly 91-86, Sacramento.

Forced to play catchup, the Clippers tied the score on several occasions, but never passed Sacramento again.

The only consolation, for some at least, was that there is a rematch tonight in Northern California.

“I want some revenge,” said Martin, who had 12 rebounds and 10 points in his second pro start.

Clipper Notes

Benoit Benjamin is expected to remain in Los Angeles today because of the flu, which previously kept Ken Bannister, Joe Wolf and Michael Young out of practices. Rookie guard Jay Edwards will also miss tonight’s game at Sacramento because of a flareup of tendinitis in his left knee. . . . There is no telecast of tonight’s game.