Clippers Go Cold, Lose in Overtime

Mike Schuler couldn’t put into words what it would have meant for the Clippers to beat the Phoenix Suns back-to-back, but description wasn’t his strong suit Friday night. He couldn’t put a finger on what went wrong when it counted, either.

Except for the obvious.

“We called everybody’s number,” he said after his Clippers lost, 121-110, in overtime before 14,487 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. “We ran something for everybody to try and create shots. We had some, but they didn’t fall.”

They didn’t fall for a span of 6:16 extending into overtime, costing the Clippers (3-5) a chance to end a seven-game losing streak here.

The Clippers caught Tom Chambers (four of 14) on a dreadful night and Kevin Johnson (nine of 24, 10 turnovers) on a bad one and still couldn’t put away the Suns. Those numbers shouldn’t even hurt the most.

These should:

--The Clippers’ final field goal of regulation came with 3:07 remaining, their final point with 2:40 to play.

--They made three of 11 shots in overtime, while the Suns made seven of nine.

--In a 101-101 game at the end of regulation, they were outscored 11-1 to open overtime, 20-9 in all.

“We wanted to give ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter, and we did,” said Clipper Ken Norman, who had 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “But it slipped away. We have to look at the positives, though, that we came in here and took it to them at home.”

Coming off a six-point victory over the Suns Wednesday at the Sports Arena, they played well almost the entire second half, but could never get enough control. Even when the Phoenix offense went without a point from 5:12 to 3:01 left in regulation, the Clippers could build nothing better than a 101-96 lead.

That disappeared, even though the Suns could manage nothing more than one free throw by Johnson and Mark West’s rebound layup in the final 2:32. The Clippers had two 24-second violations in the same stretch and missed the opportunity to win when Tom Garrick’s 30-foot straight-away shot missed at the end of regulation.

Once into overtime, the Clippers didn’t get their first point until nearly half of the five-minute period was gone.

“I just think we were much more aggressive,” Johnson said of the Suns’ play down the stretch. “We tried to trap a little more. They weren’t noticeable traps like half-court, but we are quick enough to do a lot of things that mean a lot to us.”

Specifically, that meant cornering point guard Gary Grant and forcing him into options besides feeding the ball into Norman and Benoit Benjamin at the post. Such tactics, especially by Norman, had been most harmful to the Suns earlier.

It took Phoenix all of 4:21 to take a 15-5 lead. From there, the Suns pushed the margin to as much as 31-16, with 29 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Clippers shot 28.6% (eight of 28) in the first 12 minutes, contrasting to 57.1% (12 of 21) by Phoenix.

Things turned just as quickly in the second quarter, when the Clippers opened with a 16-4 charge, Norman accounting for seven of the points and Bo Kimble six. That brought them within 36-34, a margin that disappeared when Garrick’s layup tied the score, 38-38, with 3:58 left in the half.

Looking to end a losing streak here that dates to Nov. 20, 1987, the Clippers finally took the lead back on their next possession when Norman made two free throws. They scored eight of the final 10 points of the quarter to go ahead, 52-48, at halftime.

Clipper Notes

All involved are denying extra concern over Danny Manning going on the injured list, even though the tendinitis is in the same knee that was reconstructed nearly two years ago and the tendon that was grafted to replace a torn ligament knee came from the spot that is bothering Manning now. “I don’t think so,” Dr. Stephen Lombardo, who performed the surgery, said when asked if the flare-up is abnormally serious.