NBA PLAYOFFS / UPDATE : CLIPPERS : Harper Plays (Well) Through Pain

Ron Harper insisted all along that he wasn’t feeling the pressure of playing in a Game 5. But pain? That was another matter.

He went into Saturday’s game at the Summit nursing a sore right knee and right ankle. In the first half he slightly re-injured the knee while making a sudden stop, feeling a twinge but nothing more. In the third quarter, he bent over to go for a steal and bumped into Hakeem Olajuwon, causing a twisted neck that left him woozy for a short time.

So how did Harper do?

He had 19 points and six steals while playing 42 of a possible 48 minutes. For the series, he averaged 18 points and three steals and shot 47.4%. Take away Game 1, when he went one for eight with two points in 16 minutes before being forced out by the knee injury and Harper averaged 17.6 points, 3.75 steals and 51.4% the last four outings.

Danny Manning, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds Saturday, led the Clippers in scoring at 18.1 per game.

*

Loy Vaught, who was expected to play after missing Game 4 because of a strained lower back, didn’t. He was in uniform but watched from the bench.

“I was going to give it a try, but it was still stiff,” he said. “I was doing things on the sideline and keeping warm and keeping loose. But it was still stiff.”

*

Several Clippers stopped by the Houston locker room to congratulate the Rockets and wish them well in the Western Conference semifinals that open Monday night at Seattle. “Great going, kid,” Larry Brown said to Vernon Maxwell, his former player with the San Antonio Spurs who hit the big three-pointer Saturday. “Get well.” Maxwell is still recovering from a broken wrist. . . . The Rockets went 1-3 against the SuperSonics during the regular season--1-1 in the United States and 0-2 when they opened in Japan.

Olajuwon averaged 29.2 points, 15.2 rebounds and 5.8 blocked shots in the series. He also tied Mark Eaton and Manute Bol for the NBA playoff record for most blocks in a five-game series, with 29. . . . The Rockets announced a sellout of 16,611, but it wasn’t really even close. Several big blocks of empty seats dotted the upper decks behind the baskets.