All of a Sudden, Bulls Are Out of Sight : Pro basketball: Clippers go from 45-44 halftime lead to 116-79 loss as Chicago makes 15 shots in row during one span.

The Chicago Bulls, who know all about well-publicized books, Tuesday night added to the ugly Clipper chronicles, the story of positive first-half showings gone bad.

Chapter and verse: the Bulls made 17 of 19 shots in the third quarter and 15 in a row during one span that reached early into the fourth. The final minutes merely provided the obligatory epilogue toward the 116-79 conclusion that was Chicago’s 10th consecutive victory.

The Bulls outscored the Clippers, 41-19, in the third quarter. And that was when the Clipper offense was moving enough to create at least some electricity. They had 15 points during the fourth quarter and, after leading at halftime, 45-44, fell behind by as many as 39 points, 116-77.

“I started thinking, ‘Will the damn clock run out?’ ” the Clippers’ Ron Harper said. “Can it run faster?”

Said Olden Polynice: “It got to the point where I just kept grabbing the ball from the bottom of the net and taking it out of bounds.”

The 89.5% tied the Bulls’ record for shooting in a quarter, set Feb. 25, 1985.

The Clippers tied a mark for poor second-half showings, set countless times this season. They did accomplish one goal by beating the Bulls on the offensive boards, 19-11.

“Of course,” Coach Mike Schuler said, “there weren’t any for them.”

Michael Jordan and John Paxson provided Chicago’s low moments for the third quarter, also known as missed shots. Of course, Jordan also had 11 of his game-high 23 points those 12 minutes. Otherwise, Scottie Pippen went five for five and Horace Grant four for four.

The Clippers, losers of seven of their last nine to drop to 6-9, simply went on their way.

“It’s sort of a Jekyll and Hyde, and that’s not good for us,” Polynice said. “We need to be Jekyll all the time.”

Having been held to fewer than 100 points the three previous games, they scored only 45 the first half but weren’t complaining. Not when they led the league’s hottest team.

The final 5 1/2 minutes of the second quarter made the difference, when the Clippers turned a 40-29 deficit into the 45-44 advantage at intermission.

Six Clippers scored during the 16-4 run, while Jordan accounted for all of Chicago’s points, the highlight being the baseline dash past Harper for a slam dunk.

That came with 3:31 remaining and turned out to be the final Bull points of the half, with seven empty possessions to follow.

Jordan had 12 points the first two quarters, but also six turnovers. Polynice led the Clippers with 12 points--en route to 16, and 10 rebounds--and Danny Manning addded 10 of his eventual 12, and one very nice assist.

Doc Rivers, in the opening lineup for the second consecutive time, started the play when he stole the ball from Jordan. He then finished it with a layup, but only after getting a touch pass from Manning.

The crowd went wild, but Rivers’ next basket brought an even greater response--the three-point jumper with 15 seconds left that put the Clippers ahead, 45-44. They went into the locker room with that lead, accompanied by a standing ovation from the first Sports Arena capacity crowd of the season.

But the fans turned with the game. Come the third quarter, the same people were booing.

Clipper Notes

Chicago leads the league at 11-2, its best start since the 1973-74 season. . . . James Edwards said his bruised right thigh is improving, but he did not dress for the game because the leg is still tender, and he doesn’t want to take a chance of it getting hit again. That he had to miss a game against the Bulls, archenemy of Edwards and his teammates while he was a member of the Detroit Pistons, made sitting out worse. “You always want to play against the best, and right now they’re the world champions,” Edwards said of the Bulls, who beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference final. “My feeling is basically that they took something away from us in Detroit last year, and I feel I owe them a little bit. I guess I’ll have to wait until we play them in Chicagoland.”

Mike Fratello denied a national television report that he is in line, either immediately or eventually, to take over as coach of the New Jersey Nets if Bill Fitch is fired. “As far as anything with any job, nothing is there,” said Fratello, who added he heard of the story but did not see it. “There are 27 coaching jobs in the NBA and all are filled.” Fratello, in his second season as a Clipper announcer, is a New Jersey native.