Clippers Still in a Giving Mood : Basketball: They lose fifth in a row, 110-108, blowing a 10-point lead in fourth quarter to Magic.

The bus that greets the Clippers at the hotel here this morning might be sent by the Charlotte Hornets, an effort to expedite the trip to the airport and on to North Carolina for Saturday’s game. It might even be a limo.

This is a good time to make sure the Clippers reach town, or at least are on the schedule. Miami went to Los Angeles and won, the same result the Timberwolves got in Minnesota and the Nets in New Jersey. All since Dec. 11.

So the Orlando Magic was going to blow its chance?

The Clippers came through. They lost to the Magic, 110-108, Thursday night before 15,077 at Orlando Arena and even went with a fourth-quarter el foldo for good measure in losing for the 12th time in 14 games.

About those playoff hopes . . .

The Clippers (11-20) led by 10 heading into the final quarter and apparently did everything possible to lose, although no one will know for sure until the next time.

They had offensive fouls to lose possession. Ken Norman and Danny Manning each got one for illegal screens in a crucial stretch when Orlando took a lead the Clippers would never regain, 99-97.

The Clippers were careless. In the same span, Gary Grant’s pass went through Manning’s hands on the left low post and another pass from Grant, intended for Charles Smith on the right post, was intercepted by Orlando’s Jeff Turner.

They settled for outside shots instead of driving to the basket. That should sound familiar--a loss 24 hours earlier at Atlanta was pinned on much the same reason.

They stood around. Stood there as Orlando got the ball after Grant’s layin made it 110-108 with 30 seconds left and ran the clock down to almost nothing, Jerry Reynolds dribbling far out on the left flat as Norman gave him 10 feet of breathing room to choke the air out of Clipper hopes.

“We knew we would get the ball back for a shot,” Clipper Coach Mike Schuler said. “We just didn’t want to foul or give them an easy basket.”

Well, the Clippers thought they would get a chance. Reynolds held the ball until the shot clock reached three, when he passed to Scott Skiles, who fired up a straight-away shot just in time to avoid the violation.

Norman got the rebound, but the Clippers were out of full timeouts that would have allowed them to advance the ball to midcourt. They didn’t use the 20-second timeout available, leaving no time for so much as a desperation shot from the backcourt.

“I know they were confused,” said Skiles, who followed his record-setting 30-assist night Sunday with 22 points and 13 assists against the Clippers. “I saw Winston (Garland) look at Schuler like this (shrug). It was like the players weren’t sure if they were supposed to run at the ball. I don’t know what they were thinking. I thought they might double and try to force a turnover.”

Letting Reynolds dribble the clock out wasn’t of concern to Schuler. Just about everything else was.

“We don’t seem to play, execute and think in the fourth quarter as well as we need to, especially on the road,” Schuler said after the losing streak reached five, with five games left before the Clippers see the Pacific time zone again. “One thing I can’t do as coach is give them basketball intelligence. They either have it or they don’t have it. We made some bad decisions.

“I thought we played awfully hard in the fourth quarter. But I don’t think we played with near the intelligence we needed to.”

Clipper Notes

The news gets worse for Bo Kimble. Already in a 24-for-76 shooting slump the previous 10 outings, he sat out Thursday’s game on a coach’s decision, giving him 20 minutes and three shots the last three games. “Of course I’d like to be in there, and things are easier when you’re winning,” he said. “But I’m not ever going to question the coach’s decision. I’m ready when he wants me.”. . . Benoit Benjamin is fifth among centers and Charles Smith 10th among forwards in early returns for the Western Conference all-star team.

After Scott Skiles set an NBA record with 30 assists Sunday night, Pat Williams, the team’s president and general manager, entered the locker room and said: “Great game, Scott. We just traded you to the Lakers for Magic Johnson.”