Jackson’s Free Throws Take Clippers to Limit : Game 4: Roberts also makes key baskets in 93-90 victory. Rockets miss their chances at the finish.

Next stop--Houston. And step on it.

The Clippers can afford to keep the motor running because this will be a quick trip, one game and out. Maybe out of the season and maybe on to the next round, but they earned at least that opportunity, a deciding Game 5 on Saturday afternoon at the Summit, by beating the Rockets, 93-90, Wednesday night at the Sports Arena on Mark Jackson’s three free throws in the final 33 seconds.

The only way it could have been more exciting was if Game 4 had been Game 5. As it was, the showing before 14,710 was pretty good theater, a back-and-forth contest to equal the series, now tied at 2-2.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Clipper Stanley Roberts said. “The thrill. The fun of it all. When that happens, it makes everybody play above average.”

Roberts was one who did, with 20 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes after he took much of the heat for the Game 3 loss, when he fouled out after a scoreless 18 minutes.

Jackson was another, with seven assists against only two turnovers on a night he shot two of 13 but grabbed two of the game’s final four defensive rebounds.

The Clippers committed only six turnovers and won despite shooting 39.1% and battling their trademark problems at the foul line.

With 7 1/2 minutes left, Roberts missed an opportunity for a three-point play when he missed the foul shot. On the next possession, Ken Norman made one of two attempts. On the next trip, Norman got two more tries.

The first one was closest. It hit the rim. The second one didn’t.

So who was fouled the next time down? Norman--59.5% during the regular season from the line and 57.1% the first three games of the playoffs--barely reached the front of the iron the first try. Suddenly, the crowd roared to his defense, giving Norman a standing ovation as encouragement.

The Rockets called time before his second attempt. Norman came out of the Clipper huddle to another huge dose of fan support--then made the free throw to tie the score at 86-86.

Hakeem Olajuwon (25 points, 18 rebounds) made two baskets to give the Rockets a 90-86 lead with 3:20 to go, but those were the last points for Houston. The Clippers gained another tie with a rebound layup and then a dunk by Roberts, the latter making it 90-90 with 1:41 remaining.

The Rockets called a timeout. As the Clippers kept up the defensive pressure, Houston’s only shot was Olajuwon’s free-throw line jumper with two seconds left on the shot clock, an attempt that went wide right. Roberts got the rebound.

The Rockets went to their best defense--fouling the Clippers. Jackson went to the line with 33 seconds left and missed short. His second went in for a 91-90 lead.

Timeout Houston. Olajuwon spun in the lane to shake the defenders, then missed a 12-footer. Otis Thorpe’s tip didn’t fall, but the Clippers knocked the ball out of bounds. With 16.8 seconds to go and the shot clock off, the Rockets tried again.

This time, Olajuwon’s jumper from the left flat over the outstretched arm of Danny Manning missed. Jackson got the rebound, was fouled with 6.1 seconds left, and the crowd went wild.

This time, Jackson made both free throws for a 93-90 cushion. The Rockets’ final attempt, a desperation three-point heave by Scott Brooks, was wide, hitting only the backboard.

“The effort we had tonight was incredible and I couldn’t let it go to waste,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do anything all summer, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

Olajuwon, coming off a 32-point, 12 rebound performance Monday, was rolling from the start, unfazed by unexpected company. The Clippers had, indeed, planned on changing defensive assignments, but it was supposed to be Manning going from guarding Robert Horry to Thorpe and Norman getting Horry.

But Manning didn’t go from a small forward to a power forward.

He went to the game’s best center.

With Roberts taking Thorpe, Olajuwon had 14 points and nine rebounds the first half. But only one of the boards came on the offensive end and most of Olajuwon’s seven baskets before intermission came from outside, an indication Manning was not getting outmuscled. Better still for the Clippers, Roberts was avoiding foul trouble and the Clippers had a 48-44 lead at the break.

“I thought it worked great,” Clipper Coach Larry Brown said. “John (Hammond, an assistant coach) suggested that. . . . We had to try and change up.”

Other than Olajuwon, no Rocket had more than 14 points and eight rebounds, both by Thorpe. Olajuwon also had nine assists and five blocked shots.

Manning scored 19 points, but made only five of 19 from the field.

Vernon Maxwell made his first appearance of the series after missing the previous seven games with a fractured wrist. Maxwell, Houston’s starting shooting guard during the season, played six second-half minutes with the joint heavily wrapped, making one of three shots.