Clippers Doing It With Defense : Pro basketball: Pacers have 26 turnovers. Norman scores 34.

Some numbers keep going up, like their win total and scoring, but the Clippers, getting defensive about their play, preferred to talk about what’s going down after beating the Indiana Pacers, 112-101, Sunday night at the Sports Arena.

Their current 12-7 record that rose from the ashes of an 0-3 start came about because their defense, they say. It’s a defense that has allowed only one of the last six opponents better than 48.4% from the field, a defense that produced 20 steals against Indiana.

The Clippers came in forcing the second-most turnovers in the league, an average of 18.4, and then exceeded their own standards, Indiana losing the ball 26 times. They were getting 10.1 steals and practically doubled that. Mark Jackson had eight on his own, a career high, and Ron Harper had six.

Ken Norman had a season-high 34 points, but opponent production is down.

It’s not evident in the scoring because 106.3 points a game is a lot, but that number is due in part to the Clippers taking so many shots to boost their own output to 111.4. They score quickly, allowing the other team a chance to score more often than against constant half-court sets.

Consider: In the last six games, the Clippers have allowed 106.8 points and won five times because they held teams to 44.2%, 45.9%, 44.2%, 53.7%, 44.1% and 48.4%. In that same stretch, they have taken an average of 99 shots an outing, a very high number.

“I think it comes with us getting to know each other,” said Jackson, who also had 19 points and 11 assists, though six turnovers represented his worst December game in that category.

“Early in the season, we only had one or two guys who were talking on defense, and those were the younger guys. Now, we’re concentrating a lot more on defense, and everyone is talking. That makes a difference.”

As does the growing presence of Stanley Roberts, growing in this case being for all the right reasons.

“The key for any great defender is having a big man inside helping him,” Jackson said. “It comes with him (Roberts) being more and more in shape and being physically fit to do the things we know he is capable of doing. We know he’s going to be there.”

Indiana made the Clippers sweat out this one, even after the Pacers fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter and 24 at halftime, 66-42. But when Reggie Miller, held to seven points in the first half, appeared for the third quarter, so did a game.

Miller had 17 of his 31 points in the period and the Pacers closed within 84-74. They kept the pressure on in the fourth, cutting the lead to 90-85 with 9:25 left, but then fell victim to an 11-1 run by the Clippers.

Clipper Notes

Danny Manning, bothered that the Clippers are averaging only 12,481 fans in nine Sports Arena despite having won 12 of their last 16 overall, said something about it Sunday. “I think when we play on the road teams have a distinct home-court advantage that we don’t have here,” noted Manning, one of the Clipper tri-captains. “Some fans are supportive, but some boo. If you want to boo, you should stay home. When we go to other cities and that team isn’t playing great, the fans don’t turn on them, they stay supportive. We don’t have that advantage here. We need that. We need to get people in the seats. In years past, it was, ‘Who wants to see the Clippers play?’ That was the question people asked. Now, we’re winning, playing hard and are fun to watch. We deserve better fan support.”

The Clippers played without Loy Vaught, home with flu. . . . Pooh Richardson returned to the lineup for Indiana after missing Friday’s game at Portland, the first game he has ever missed as a pro to snap a streak of 265 appearances, then the third-longest run among active players. “It was very weird,” he said. “Not good. I don’t ever want to miss a game again.” Teammates and coaches might not want him to, either. “They let me talk a lot on the bench,” Richardson said. “At times, I was bothering them. Bo (Coach Bob Hill) said to Donnie (Walsh, Pacer president) and (trainer) David Craig, ‘Hurry up and get this guy healthy so I don’t have to hear his mouth anymore.’ ” Richardson played 20 minutes the first half Sunday night but sat out the second.