Clippers Climb Back but Fall a Little Short : Pro basketball: Stretch of poor shooting in the fourth quarter is costly in 111-105 loss to the Nets.

The Clippers lost to the New Jersey Nets, 111-105, Thursday night at Brendan Byrne Arena when Danny Manning’s shot to tie the game with about 15 seconds to play rolled off the rim.

But that wasn’t the only reason they lost for the first time in five games.

They lost because they were outrebounded by the Nets in the first half, 32-14, and because they took a series of terrible shots midway through the fourth quarter after coming back from a 10-point deficit to draw within one point.

The Nets opened the fourth quarter with only four players--Chucky Brown was late getting on the floor--and played for 15 seconds before being charged with a technical foul.

The Clippers, perhaps sensing that going shorthanded was the way to victory, also played one man down--because of a substitution problem involving Danny Manning replacing John Williams--with about 6 1/2 minutes left and avoided detection.

They could not come back all the way against the Nets.

In the fourth quarter, the Clippers turned a 93-85 deficit with 9:58 remaining to a 93-92 deficit with 8:34 to play.

Then things went out of control. Ron Harper missed from the left perimeter and Gary Grant from the right perimeter on the same possession. Grant connected on the next trip, closing New Jersey’s deficit to 96-94, but that was followed by another miss by Harper and Loy Vaught’s wild hook shot from along the left baseline.

“The game was 93-92 (and) we had the ball and took four or five of the worst shots I’ve ever seen,” Coach Larry Brown said.

And then the Nets scored seven consecutive points for a 103-94 advantage with 4:21 to play.

“That was the game,” Brown said. “It gave them a cushion again.”

But again the Clippers came back. They tied the score, 105-105, when Manning got deep position on Brown and flipped the ball in with 36 seconds to play.

New Jersey went back ahead when Kenny Anderson broke past Grant at the top of the key and forced Manning to step into the lane to help on defense. Manning’s move left an unguarded Brown, who broke inside and got the pass for a slam dunk with 24 seconds to play. That set the stage for what turned out to be the Clippers’ last stand.

They went with basically the same play: Manning isolated on Brown in the lane on the left side. It worked well again, until the attempted lay-in rolled off the basket.

“It seemed like an eternity,” Manning said.

“It was sitting on the rim,” the Nets’ Drazen Petrovic said.

And then it fell off. The rebound went to Petrovic, who passed to Anderson, who was fouled as the Clippers tried to stop the clock. Petrovic made both free throws with 14 seconds to play.

Sam Bowie did the same with five seconds remaining for the final points.

The Nets, playing without Derrick Coleman for the second consecutive game because of a sprained right knee, won for the sixth time in seven games. They got a triple-double from Anderson--26 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds--27 points from Petrovic and 19 points and 16 rebounds from Chris Morris.

Clipper Notes

The Nets outrebounded the Clippers, 57-41. Kenny Anderson, the Nets’ 6-foot-1 point guard had 10 rebounds, and no Clipper got more than eight. . . . Last season, New Jersey didn’t win its 11th game until Jan. 14. . . . Danny Manning led the Clippers with 25 points and eight rebounds and Ron Harper added 23 points and eight rebounds.

John Williams is playing while bothered by pain and minor swelling in both knees, especially during the Clippers’ frequent back-to-back series, another of which concludes tonight at Philadelphia. The left-knee problem is tendinitis, common among NBA players. But the condition of the right leg is something of a concern because Williams weighs in the high 290s, about 35 pounds more than desired, and the joint was reconstructed late in 1989. Williams has lost about 30 pounds since the start of training camp, but a test last month determined his right knee was at 88% strength, compared to the left. “It’s minor,” Carl W. Horne Jr., the Clipper strength and conditioning coach, said. “But we’re dealing with someone who still has some loose ligament and (there is) the fact that he is overweight.” Williams, who is averaging 24.5 minutes while appearing in every game, said the pain is sometimes bothersome after games, but not during.