New-Look Offense, Old Frustrating Result : Clippers: Manning comes off bench, Norman moves to forward, but L.A. falls in overtime to Hornets, 118-109.

A dreaded word has re-emerged in the Clipper vocabulary, but it’s nothing Danny Manning can’t say on television. Can, but won’t.

In the locker room, frustration, when attached to the workings of a basketball offense, might be even more profane. Certainly more unwelcome.

Still, Manning was frustrated with the offense Thursday night at Charlotte Coliseum, even before the Clippers’ 118-109 overtime loss to the Hornets, the NBA’s losingest team, before 23,901.

And after?

“No comment,” he said.

It wasn’t that Coach Don Casey shuffled the lineup and had Manning come off the bench, a notion that has never bothered 1988’s No. 1 draft choice. The concern is ball movement, and when someone suggested to Manning before the game there was an appearance of struggling to the Clippers, he didn’t disagree.

“Frustration,” he said. “But I think it’s frustration on all our parts. You can look out on the court almost any time and see frustration with the offense.”

Manning continued. “It’s puzzling.”

Then he shrugged.

“I don’t know what to say other than that.”

At the root, he admitted, is winning, one thing the Clippers (22-34) haven’t done to gloss over any problems. The streak hit seven defeats in eight games and 15 of 19 after being outscored in the five-minute extra period, 13-4, by the league’s second-lowest scoring team.

The new lineup was the 14th different one for Casey, mostly thanks to injuries. This new look was more attributable to tinkering, Ken Norman being moved from shooting guard to his more natural small forward and Manning coming off the bench.

It was back to the forward rotation of old: Manning, Norman and Charles Smith. None of the subjects complained, not even Norman, who sat out the entire fourth quarter for the second consecutive game.

“We’ve got to find some way to win,” said Norman, who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds--five offensive--in 28 minutes. “I guess he (Casey) feels we can win with that rotation. It worked pretty well. We just didn’t come out on top.

“It’s very tough to do, especially when everyone is playing well. I felt I played well in the first two quarters, but so did the others. I can live with that as long as the guys in play well. I’ve just got to be ready when it’s my time to go in.”

It was his time with the game in the balance, an awkward situation for someone still nursing a groin injury to jump back in cold. The Hornets (10-44) had a 9-0 run to finish the game, Rex Chapman hitting a straight away jump shot to break a 109-109 tie. Smith fouled out with 2:06 remaining, and Charlotte’s Armon Gilliam converted both free throws to push the lead to 113-109. Chapman followed his own miss with 1:04 left for a six-point advantage, and, when Gilliam made another free throw with 26.1 seconds to play, it went to 116-109. Tyrone Bogues added the final points on two more free throws with 12.7 seconds remaining.

Casey expects the new lineup to stick, at least for a while. Manning’s versatility allows him the option.

“He’s such a purist, but in a good sense,” Casey said. “He knows the game and how it should be played. The main thrust, in my mind, is it’s better if we have a natural guard. Let Snake (Norman) play forward and allow Danny to come into his own spots off the bench. Not many players can do that.”

The trick, of course, is to make sure Manning gets his minutes. He hasn’t been getting his shots.

His per-game attempts since the all-star break, in order: nine, nine, eight, 19, seven, eight, 14, 14 and 17. In that time, he’s shot 46.7% and averaged 14.8 points.

In that time, the Clippers are 1-8.

Clipper Notes

Assistant Coach Bob Staak returned to North Carolina and practically stepped into a hornet’s nest, as it were. Nearly a year after leaving as head coach at Wake Forest, Staak was confronted by revelations of the point-shaving scandal at North Carolina State. A report by ABC said one of the games in question involved Wake Forest on March 6, 1988. A television crew met Staak Wednesday night, and there were more questions Thursday, though none, he said, from investigators. “It may be true,” Staak said of the allegations, “but until it’s proven for sure, I won’t believe any of it.”

Winston Garland got his first start as a Clipper, opening in the backcourt with Tom Garrick . . . Benoit Benjamin, showing no lasting effects of flu, had 16 points and 16 rebounds, but six of the Clippers’ 24 turnovers that accounted for 32 Charlotte points. Danny Manning also had six turnovers.