Clippers Take Step Backward : Pro basketball: After opening with two impressive victories at home, they get blown out by the Warriors at Oakland, 130-109.

The Clippers found the other side of the mountain Tuesday night, the flip side to the emotional summit they had reached with their 20-point comeback victory two nights earlier.

This time, they played Golden State tough for the first half and then took a header. Being outscored by 11 in the third quarter was a start, and this time the Warriors made sure they finished it, cruising to a 130-109 victory before 15,015 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

“Sunday’s game was in the back of all our minds,” said Tim Hardaway, who had 12 points, 13 assists and six steals for the Warriors. “If we were up by 20 this time, we were going to keep the pressure on. We were just doing things tonight that we should have done in L.A.”

It didn’t help, of course, that the Warriors were adding by threes--four consecutive possessions midway through the final quarter that resulted in either a three-point basket (by Rod Higgins) or a three-point play (by Tom Tolbert, Sarunas Marciulionis and Tyrone Hill).

That might have been more spectacular had it really mattered, but they already led, 106-85, when the string started. When it ended, the Clippers were 2-1, with the Detroit Pistons up tonight at the Sports Arena.

The Clippers got Danny Manning back after two games on the sidelines, and he contributed 15 points. But they were without Benoit Benjamin and Charles Smith, and this time, more than in Sunday’s 109-107 victory, missed a defensive presence inside, especially during the second half.

“(The Warriors) came out in the third quarter and were aggressive, no getting around that,” Clipper Coach Mike Schuler said. “They elevated their play.”

The Clippers could not reach. Ken Norman finished with 30 points and eight rebounds, Bo Kimble had 20 points, and Gary Grant added 12 assists, his third game in a row with better than double figures, and it still wasn’t enough. Not against a team that made 58.4% of its shots to increase its season average to 55.7% and 133 points per game.

There was no indication of this early for the Clippers. After getting just 18 and 16 points, respectively in the first quarters of the first two games, they went for 31 this time with a carry-over of intensity from the come-from-behind win at home. All that got them, though, was a one-point lead.

Golden State, playing its home opener, started the second period with a 14-2 run over 3:57. That gave the Warriors a 44-33 advantage, which they proceeded to almost lose, the Clippers drawing to within 51-45 before ending the half trailing only by 60-55.

Norman had 15 points by then on six-of-10 shooting. Manning and Kimble both made four of seven attempts for nine points.

Looking to break an eight-game losing streak in Oakland, the Clippers pulled within four in the third quarter, the last time at 65-61 with 9:28 left, and then disintegrated. The Warriors went on 13-0 and 15-2 surges, exposing the Clipper defense with apparent ease.

Early in the charge, Chris Mullin did the damage. A short jumper in the lane. Following a pair of free throws by Tolbert, a three-point jumper from straight away. A layup, the first of four successive trips Golden State would rip through for a layin or dunk, Mitch Richmond getting two in a row.

With 6:32 left, some three minutes after the power surge began, the Warriors’ lead climbed to 80-63 and on the way to 92-69. It was 97-81, heading into the fourth quarter.

That played out without too much more bleeding, all that remained was for the Clippers to pack up and head out on a late flight. The Pistons are coming.

“I just told them let’s go home,” Schuler said. “The expression is, ‘Protect your own crib.’ ”

The Warriors apparently know it well. With Mullin getting 26 points, and Richmond and Marciulionis each adding 21, they did it.

Clipper Notes

Benoit Benjamin missed his third consecutive game with a separated shoulder and Charles Smith also sat out with a badly sprained foot and ankle. Trainer Keith Jones said Benjamin is “questionable to probable” for tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons at the Sports Arena and that Smith, who sat out the second half of Sunday’s win over Golden State, is probable. The Clippers are hoping for a rush order on a foot arch that for Smith, who took a mold Monday for the process that normally takes four to six days. . . . Danny Manning, Smith and Benjamin are on the all-star ballot for February’s game at Charlotte, N.C.

Mike Schuler wasn’t taking added joy in the Clippers’ victory Sunday because it came against the Warriors, the team he was an assistant coach with last season and whose coach, Don Nelson, has twice hired Schuler for his staff. Coming back from 20 points down in the second quarter was enough this time. “If that ever occurred, it was the first time we played, when I was at Portland and he was still with Milwaukee,” Schuler said. “I’ll tell you straight up, that was a big day, coaching against who I consider the best coach in the NBA. I never admitted that in Portland, but that’s what it meant to me, because I respect Nellie so much.”

Clipper update--The team took a charter flight home from Oakland after Tuesday night’s 130-109 loss to Golden State, rather than get an early wake-up call today to return to Los Angeles--a move the Clippers hope will mean a fresh team tonight. They did the same thing last season from Portland and beat Detroit at the Sports Arena, 83-79, in one of the Clippers’ best showings of the season. Charles Smith averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds in the two games against the Pistons in 1989-90.

Piston update--Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer have been starting despite injuries. Thomas has been wearing goggles to protect a torn tear duct, and Laimbeer has been wearing a clear plastic mask over his broken left cheekbone. Dennis Rodman is still bothered by a chronic sprained left ankle, but he had 10 rebounds in each of the first two games and played typically strong defense. Before Tuesday night’s 100-92 loss at to the SuperSonics at Seattle, the Pistons had seven players scoring in double figures in a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks and six in beating the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pistons have lost two of their last three games at the Sports Arena.