Nothing Special About Clippers’ Latest Setback

That this happened at Memorial Coliseum, now site of 29 consecutive losses dating to February of 1981, has no significance, just as Mike Schuler’s first trip back as a head coach had none. This can happen anytime, at any place, for the Clippers, as proven in the past week.

History, recent and otherwise, collided again Sunday night, leaving more Clipper wreckage strewn along the Pacific coastline. After a rout at Golden State and back-to-back home blowouts came this, a 138-107 thrashing by the Portland Trail Blazers before 12,884.

The Clippers’ losing streak has reached four after opening the season 2-0, with a home-and-home series against Phoenix next up. It could get worse before it gets better.

These are not your basic injury-induced problems, either. It goes far beyond that, farther, too, than playing the defending Western Conference champions.

“I’ve got to be choice with my words,” Charles Smith said after getting 21 points and 14 rebounds. “You need five players on the floor running. You need five players on the floor playing defense, all five getting back on defense. It’s not happening.

“I don’t want to start controversy. (But) it’s tough because maybe some of the guys are not playing hard now.”

Smith isn’t alone in his opinion.

“Damn right,” said Ken Norman, who contributed 20 points. “It’s evident everyone is not giving 110%. But I bet everyone gives 110% on the first and the 15th, when we go to pick up checks.”

Schuler, who said he has no problem with the effort of any player, had a big part in Clipper woes here, having coached the Trail Blazers 2 1/2 seasons before being fired in February of 1989. And because he was an assistant when Buck Williams played for the New Jersey Nets, Schuler had coached every member of Portland’s starting lineup.

However, he insisted before the game, coming back to Memorial Coliseum brought no special emotions, mainly because he had been here as an assistant with Golden State the last season and a half.

“You want the truth? No,” said Schuler, the 1987 NBA coach of the year while with the Trail Blazers. “It was, let’s say, an anxious moment a year ago the first time I walked into this building as the coach of another team.

“I think we (the Warriors) were here twice last year. The second time, it was just like another arena. It is no different being in Portland today than it was going to Golden State. It’s another game on the schedule.”

It seemed commonplace for the Clippers, too. They fell behind by at least 20 points for the fifth consecutive outing, the opener against Sacramento being the game that didn’t develop into a blowout. One other time, Game 2 against Golden State, turned into a dramatic comeback win.

Schuler, still without a healthy team at his disposal, has noted his concern to the players for such a troublesome pattern as falling behind big. Coming on the heels of three consecutive losses by an average of 22 points--21 to Golden State, 27 to Detroit and 19 to Atlanta the night before they came here--the Clippers responded by falling 15 down in the first quarter and 27 in the second.

Portland, improving to 5-0 and showing no sign of letdown after Friday’s win over the Pistons in a rematch of last June’s finals, had one first-period stretch of baskets on six consecutive possessions and nine of 11. Six of those came on dunks or layups.

Clipper Notes

Benoit Benjamin continues to play in pain, starting his third game in a row after missing the first three with a separated shoulder, actually a stretching of the ligament that left a noticeable bruise on his right collarbone near the neck. “I made the decision I was going to play him,” Coach Mike Schuler said. “Maybe in error, but that’s what I’m going to do. My understanding is that there is no danger to him by playing. He needs the action, he needs the running, he needs the timing.” Benjamin said he is 80-85% recovered from the injury suffered when his arm stretched back while going for a ball in practice the day before the season opener, with the pain mostly always coming when he stretches overhead for a rebound.

Add injuries: Danny Manning, who did not dress for the second consecutive game and has played in only two of six games so far, all because of tendinitis in his knee, is scheduled to be re-examined today. The Clippers are off until Wednesday, when they host Phoenix at the Sports Arena, and rest is the best cure to the nagging problem. When he does return, it may be with some time limitations for a short while. “We tried to play him into shape,” trainer Keith Jones said of Manning, who missed most of training camp with a badly sprained ankle. “Maybe it was too much too soon.” . . . The Trail Blazers shot 56% and got 23 points from Clyde Drexler, 22 from Kevin Duckworth and 14 and 12 rebounds from Buck Williams.