Clippers Put Magic in Its Place : Pro basketball: L.A., which doesn’t feel expansive after 2-3 trip, takes a 16-point lead in the first quarter.

The expansionists got put in their place, finally, in time for the Clippers to avoid the same indignity at home that they suffered on the road.

They lost in overtime to the Charlotte Hornets and were pummeled by the Minnesota Timberwolves, bookends to a 2-3 trip. But the Orlando Magic faced a 16-point deficit in the first quarter and never recovered as the Clippers won, 112-101, Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

The Clippers, who won for the fourth time in their last seven tries, improved to 25-36 in their first home game of the month. Orlando dropped to 16-45.

“They say the first game off a road trip is like the last game of the road trip, so I was concerned,” Clipper Coach Don Casey said.

“But we jumped out the first four or five minutes and continued most of the way.”

After consecutive first-half fiascoes at Philadelphia, New Jersey and Minnesota, the Clippers led the Magic, 29-13, and were ahead, 29-15, at the end of the quarter.

That was the fewest points the Clippers have given up in a first quarter this season. The defense continued into the next period, when they built a 53-31 lead and held the Magic scoreless for 3:33. That was part of a 14-2 run.

Ken Norman had six of the points in that stretch and 12 at halftime, when the lead was 57-36. He finished with 20, second to Winston Garland’s 21.

The Magic shot 23% the first quarter and 30.4% in the half, and no player scored more than nine points. But the Clipper defense got far more generous in the third quarter.

It wasn’t so much that Orlando pulled to 72-60 on Morlon Wiley’s three-point basket with 3:46 to play. It was that the Magic scored 34 points in the quarter, nearly equaling their first-half total.

“I think we got a little too secure,” Casey said.

Still, the Clippers were ahead, 85-70, heading into the final 12 minutes. Their lead never fell below 11 the rest of the way.

Terry Catledge led Orlando with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Clipper Notes

Charles Smith, the Clippers’ leading scorer at more than 20 points per game, suffered a sprained tendon in his left knee Feb. 25 against the San Antonio Spurs at the Sports Arena, but he doesn’t know how. Said Smith: “It’s not healing at all. That’s the biggest problem. It is lingering on.” Smith, whose status was listed as questionable Saturday night but started, might need rest to cure the problem. “When I run a certain way, I feel it,” he said. “It’s there.”

Gary Grant got the brace removed from his left foot Thursday and is back to wearing shoes, with an occasional light splint, as he recovers from a broken ankle. “It goes up and down pretty good,” the Clipper guard said. “Diagonal still hurts a little bit, but I’m glad to get out of the brace. It went fast. Now I hope it keeps going fast, but also at a safe pace.” Grant, whose previous rehabilitation had consisted mainly of whirlpool treatments, will probably need a minor operation to have the five pins removed. That can be done on an out-patient basis and won’t deter his comeback, which continues on a schedule that should allow him, if wanted, to play in the summer.

A moment of silence was observed before the game in memory of Loyola Marymount’s Hank Gathers. . . . Steve Harris, expected to get his second 10-day contract with the Clippers, was instead signed Saturday for the remainder of the season. . . . Winston Garland recently had a stretch of 18 rebounds in three games--five at Indiana, six at Philadelphia and seven at New Jersey. The 6-foot-2 guard, shut out in that category Thursday at Minnesota, had 12 rebounds in one game last season while playing for Golden State. “I just have a knack for it,” he said before Saturday’s game. “Every team can use an extra rebound or two.” . . . The Clippers donated 500 tickets to the game to the Fred Jordan Mission, hoping to get homeless kids to the game the same night Disney characters performed at halftime.