Clippers Get Booed Off the Court

If it was suspense you wanted, you would have been better off staying home and watching “Twin Peaks” to see who killed Laura Palmer than driving to the Sports Arena to watch the Atlanta Hawks murder the Clippers.

After getting routed by 27 and 21 points in their past two games, the Clippers were humiliated by the Hawks, 112-94, before 13,228 booing fans.

“It’s really sad and disappointing to hear our fans boo us,” said forward Ken Norman, who led the Clippers with 21 points and 10 rebounds. “They pay good money to see us play. We’ve just got to shut up and come out and play basketball.”

The Clippers trailed by 23 points at halftime and were behind by 33 points 3 1/2 minutes into the second half before trimming the margin to 14 with 3 1/2 minutes left.

But that was as close as they got.

Of course, there were mitigating circumstances for the Clippers, who have lost three in a row after winning their first two games of the season.

Forward Danny Manning, who sat out the first two games of the season with tendinitis in his right knee, didn’t dress for the game. Charles Smith, who missed Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons because of a sprained left foot, replaced Manning and scored 20 points.

“I hate to use it as an excuse all the time, but it’s our youth,” Smith said. “I’m one of the captains of the team and I’m one of the youngest on the team and I’m still learning myself.

“We have lapses and we have spurts where we play as great as any other team in the league.”

The Clippers had more lapses than spurts Saturday night.

Center Benoit Benjamin, bothered by a separated right shoulder, was ineffective on the boards as the Clippers were outrebounded, 60-48.

Hawk center Moses Malone outrebounded Benjamin, 15-6. Forward Kevin Willis led the Hawks with 16 rebounds.

“I’m faced with a dilemma about Ben,” Clipper Coach Mike Schuler said. “He’s trying to gut it out and play, but he’s not totally 100%. I think I’m going to keep playing him because I know he’s capable of making some shots and giving us some offensive play.

“That’s not a knock on Ben. It’s just a decision I’ve made. As long as he can give us some quality minutes, I’m going to keep playing him knowing that it may be hampering us.”

The Hawks (4-1) soared over the injury-plagued Clippers, running them off the court in the second quarter to win their seventh consecutive game at the Sports Arena. The Clippers haven’t beaten Atlanta here since Feb. 10, 1984.

Glenn Rivers, who has moved from point guard to off guard due to the emergence of rookie Rumeal Robinson, had 23 points, hitting four of seven three-point shots, to lead the Hawks. Dominique Wilkins added 18.

And things don’t figure to get any easier for the Clippers, who play their next three games against the 1990 Western Conference finalists. After traveling to Portland, where they have lost 28 in a row, for a game tonight, the Clippers play back-to-back games against the Phoenix Suns.

“As I just told them we started 1-4 in Portland and won 49 games,” Schuler said recalling the 1986-87 season, “it’s a long, long season.”

But it could be even longer if the Clippers keep playing as they did in the first half.

Trailing by 23 points, the Clippers were booed off the court at the end of the first half.

Actually, the Clippers played well for the first 11 minutes, building a 30-27 lead, as Benjamin hit all four shots he took in the opening quarter.

But the Clippers were simply awful in the second quarter, as the Hawks outscored them, 39-17. The Clippers shot 33.3% in the second quarter and were outrebounded, 22-10.

“The first four minutes of the game, we played our worst defense ever,” Atlanta Coach Bob Weiss said. “It was just atrocious matador defense. Once we ironed that out, it changed the complexion of the whole game.”

“The main thing is we have to play more as a team,” Benjamin said. “We can’t go out there and go one-on-one. When we hit those little dead spots where we can’t knock a shot down we should try to concentrate that much more on getting a layup or something easy.

“I think we’ll progress. We’ve been burying ourself in the second quarter, but it’s a long season.”