Another Normal Day at the Office for Ken Norman : Clippers: Forward tunes up for Rockets’ Otis Thorpe in victory over Trail Blazers. L.A. finishes at .500.

Some players prepare for the NBA playoffs by getting their minutes reduced in the final days of the regular season.

Ken Norman of the Clippers got Shawn Kemp and Buck Williams.

So it goes for Norman, a small forward in name only. On offense only, too.

On defense, he usually guards the opponent’s best forward, regardless of size or strengths. That’s how he can be assigned powerful, low-post specialist Karl Malone one night and open-court, highlight-ready Dominique Wilkins the next. Or Charles Barkley, or Sean Elliott, or, in past years, point guard Magic Johnson.

When the playoffs start Thursday at Houston, Norman, one of the many Clippers to play reduced minutes in Sunday’s 123-112 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the Sports Arena in the regular-season finale, will probably draw the Rockets’ power forward, Otis Thorpe. In so doing, he will be battling another mismatch, Thorpe at 6 feet 10 and 245 pounds and Norman at 6-8 and 230.

“He’s a big, strong physical player,” Norman said of Thorpe. “I love to play physical. I think it’s a challenge. He outweighs me by 15, 20 pounds. I’m a banger, he’s a banger. He likes to rebound, I like to rebound. I don’t think it’s that tough a matchup, not to take anything away from him.

“He’s a couple inches taller than me, and a lot of times (the Rockets) try to take advantage of that, which they probably should. But if you look at my numbers and his numbers, I probably come out on top. But they beat us four times (during the regular season), so I guess ultimately he’s won.”

The Rockets will probably try to take advantage of that by having Thorpe post up Norman, even if it means temporarily taking Hakeem Olajuwon away from the basket. aBut Norman has dueled with much tougher opponents inside than Thorpe, whose true strength is his mobility.

He has jousted with Malone, run with Wilkins and in practice faced teammate Kiki Vandeweghe.

“Even now, I think my toughest assignment is trying to guard Kiki Vandeweghe in practice,” Norman said. “I’m serious about that. He has so many moves. He’ll trick you in a heartbeat.”

Vandeweghe started against the Trail Blazers and played a season-high 28 minutes as Coach Larry Brown didn’t use any of his usual starters more than 23 minutes. Mark Jackson gave way to Gary Grant in the opening lineup and went only 15 minutes, as did Danny Manning.

Loy Vaught had a career-best 27 points along with 13 rebounds, both game highs. He made 11 of 19 shots to help the Clippers build a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter and reach .500 (41-41) for the season.

“We’ve been playing well at home, but the road has been a little bit of a struggle,” Vaught said. “It seems weird because it is so up and down at times. But to finish with this home game against a quality opponent like this will definitely help our mind-set against Houston.”

Clipper Notes

It turns out all that wondering whether the Clippers would keep Elmore Spencer or Jaren Jackson when playoff rosters are submitted to the league today was for naught. Both are expected to stay. Randy Woods appears the odd man out because having a fourth point guard is a low priority. By contrast, it was imperative to get Spencer, on the injured list the last four games with bronchitis, back to backup Stanley Roberts heading into the series against Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston. . . . Roberts did not play the second half after re-aggravating his strained right shoulder. The injury is not regarded as serious. . . . The 41-41 finish puts the Clippers in a tie with Indiana for 13th in the draft order. A coin flip will determine who falls to 14th. . . . The Clippers scored more baskets than any team this season, 3,544.