Harper Does Help Clippers in the End : Pro basketball: He has 23 points as L.A. defeats Spurs, 107-101. Robinson scores six points.

It was 48 minutes of one team shooting 39.8%, the other making 37.8%, and David Robinson scoring a career-low six points Friday night at the Sports Arena.

On a night such as this, Ron Harper can start two for 14 from the field, finish six for 19 and still be a hero in a 107-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Other than 23 points from Harper, there were 24 points and 16 rebounds from Ken Norman, 20 points and 11 rebounds from Danny Manning, 14 points and six blocked shots by Charles Smith for a 17-35 Clipper team that has defeated Milwaukee and San Antonio among its last three victories.

“It was a very strange game,” said Harper, who scored 17 of his points in the fourth quarter as the Spurs lost for the first time this season after leading at the outset of the final period. “I really wasn’t hitting any of my shots the first three quarters. I said to myself, ‘I have to play for us to have a chance.’ ”

San Antonio, which fell into second place in the Midwest Division for the first time since mid-November, got a boost from Terry Cummings, who played for the first time in nine games after breaking his left hand and contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds. But the Spurs scored only 19 points in the fourth quarter, and Robinson made only one of 12 shots before fouling out with 3:05 remaining.

Flourishing despite flailing, the Clippers shot 30% the first half, made 12 of 22 free throws, only five of their last 22 attempts from the field and scored 44 points and still trailed by only four at intermission.

They must have been doing something right while doing so many things wrong. The assist was Robinson getting his third foul with 10:07 left in the second quarter and not returning until after halftime, taking his six rebounds and 0-for-five shooting into the locker room. His fourth foul came less than three minutes into the third quarter.

The Spurs were without their coach, too, after Larry Brown got tossed courtesy of two technicals from Bennett Salvatore. Brown, apparently upset at a delayed foul call but refusing to comment afterward, went to mid-court before exiting so he could get within earshot of Salvatore one last time. Then he finally left and put Gregg Popovich, the former coach at Pomona-Pitzer, in charge.

The Clipper stars were dim, too. Harper, in his first game without time restrictions, was one for 11 the first half. Manning went one for 10.

Olden Polynice, the newest Clipper, made his debut, although not as a starter. That promotion could come Sunday, when Denver comes to the Sports Arena.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Polynice said. “I think it’ll be a great opportunity for myself as a player. The last four years at Seattle were basically an up-and-down situation.”

Things were on the up and up Friday when he finished with eight points and six rebounds in 26 minutes, already six better than his season average.

Clipper Notes

It turns out Mark Jackson, Vern Fleming and Scott Skiles apparently held little appeal to the Clippers. The names that surfaced right before the trading deadline passed Thursday evening were far more impressive: Doc Rivers of Atlanta and Derek Harper of Dallas. Ken Norman was mentioned most often as leaving the Clippers, though General Manager Elgin Baylor refused to comment on any rumors. Baylor, however, left little doubt at his displeasure over not making a trade before the deadline. “I was very, very disappointed,” he said before the game Friday. “I talked to several teams, but I was particularly talking to one team. I talked to them at 5:30, a quarter to six, as late as 10 minutes to six. It was something I had felt very positive about the night before.”

The effort to add a point guard who could supply leadership went beyond trade talks. Baylor and Coach Mike Schuler briefly discussed the possibility of bringing in Dennis Johnson, available since Boston did not offer him a new contract after last season. Schuler said it’s a dead issue now.

Gary Grant, the point guard the Clippers have, said his comments after Wednesday’s game were misconstrued and that he did not want to be traded. “Everybody got everything confused,” he said. “ . . . I always said if they were going to trade me, trade me. I did say it the last game, but not like there were any problems. It was the last day before the deadline and I was reacting to what everybody said to me about the trade rumors.”