The New Clippers Resemble the Old

The Clippers turned over everything but a new leaf Friday night.

They lost the ball 26 times. They missed a crucial free throw and finished five of 12 from the foul line. They lost to the Sacramento Kings.

It was the season opener, but the 94-90 defeat by the Kings at sold-out Arco Arena reeked of the past--all the way back to 1990-91 season finale, when the Clippers also lost here.

This time, in the seventh loss in their last eight trips to Sacramento, the Clippers came back from a seven-point deficit to tie the game, 89-89, with 1:22 remaining on Ron Harper’s three-pointer with 42 seconds left. Down by two points after two free throws by Spud Webb, the Clippers, who have lost six in a row on the road since April, had another chance to pull even, but James Edwards made the first free throw with 11.7 seconds to go and then hit the heel of the rim with his second.

Anthony Bonner’s three free throws over the final 11 seconds clinched it for Sacramento, and the Clippers were done. The culprits could be seen in the mirror.

“We had some bad breaks,” said Loy Vaught, whose career-high 20 rebounds made for at least one Clipper highlight.

Bad breaks?

“Minor breakdowns down the stretch that cost us the game,” he said.

In truth, there were so many breakdowns the Clippers could have been mistaken for a junkyard.

“I’m not sure they (the Kings) forced us into a lot of the turnovers,” Coach Mike Schuler said. “We were just very careless.”

They gave the ball away eight times in the first quarter and fell into a double-digit hole seven minutes into the game, 16-6. They scored only 14 points in the first quarter to trail by eight. The Clippers had 17 turnovers by halftime but still led, 38-37.

With Doc Rivers in Los Angeles nursing his bad back and rookie Elliot Perry having a nightmarish pro debut, starting point guard Gary Grant picked up his third foul 1:52 into the second quarter. He played only 26 seconds the rest of the half, leaving Schuler to use Harper and Danny Manning for the job.

The Kings lost Wayman Tisdale, who dropped to the court with 4:27 left in the first half with what turned out to be a pulled muscle in his right hip. He missed the rest of the game and is expected to miss at least one more and maybe as much as a week.

Tisdale may have been done for the night, but the Kings weren’t. They took the lead and control of the game, again pushing the advantage to double digits, 71-60, heading into the fourth quarter.

That new-found Clipper depth? The guards at one stretch of the third quarter were Perry and Tony Brown, a rookie and well-traveled free agent.

Grant played the entire fourth quarter with five fouls. Impressive in the second half, he was especially good under the circumstances, accounting for all of his team-high 18 points and all but one of the eight assists.

Clipper Notes

By making the Clippers’ opening night roster, Tony Brown is on the verge of making history. This is his eighth NBA team, tying him with Jawann Oldham for No. 2 on the all-time list, trailing only current Milwaukee Buck Moses Malone and Len Chappell, who played from 1963-72, both at nine. An indignity Brown would rather forget? Just the opposite for Brown, a swingman who has previously been with New Jersey, Indiana, Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, the Lakers and Utah: “I’m very happy. A lot of guys out there would kill to be in my position.” . . . The Clippers have discussed the possibility of Doc Rivers, acquired during the off-season to be their point guard, getting time at shooting guard.

* LOOKING AHEAD: The Warriors traded Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens. C10.