Clippers’ Loss to Portland Lands Them Back at Camp

Bob Weiss, where are you and your Clippers going?

We’re all going to UC Irvine!

Ron Harper said the Clippers would just as soon play on the road, but so far you can’t tell from the scores.

Beaten badly by the Golden State Warriors in their last away game, the Clippers swooned, 114-98, before the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night and announced that they would go back to UC Irvine for a second training camp.

The Clippers were trailing, 32-12, after one quarter, meaning that in their last five quarters on the road, they had been outscored, 173-107.

Portland led, 60-33, late in the second quarter.

Perhaps they hadn’t come perfectly ready to play?

“Pretty much,” said Danny Manning. “You can say that. You can say we didn’t shoot well. You can say a whole lot of things, but it doesn’t matter. The end result was we lost.”

The end result is that the Clippers are starting over.

After the game they announced they would return to Irvine during a break in the schedule next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to see if they can get things straightened out.

“We need to get refocused,” Weiss said. “We’re going to go get away and get to work.”

The Trail Blazers slouched off to a 12-10 start this season because of a mid-December slump, suffering a devastating home loss to Orlando that had even the loyal Blazermaniacs booing, then further embarrassing themselves in a nationally televised narrow victory at Dallas, and getting waxed at San Antonio.

“That was kind of an awakening for this team,” Coach Rick Adelman said before the game. “No one expected that. Until then, everybody had their own agenda. Everybody wanted more shots, everybody wanted to start, everybody wanted to play. But that made them think.”

After that, the Trail Blazers won four games in a row, two without Clyde Drexler who sprained his left ankle and will be sidelined for two weeks.

After that, they took it to the Clippers.

Of the Clippers’ first eight shots, the Trail Blazers blocked three. Of the five that got through, four missed.

The Clippers led, 2-0, but the Trail Blazers scored the next 13 points, eight of them by Terry Porter, including two three-pointers.

After that, the Trail Blazers turned it into a clinic.

Their specialty was taking the ball from a Clipper and going the length of the floor for a layup. Rod Strickland did it to Mark Aguirre. Then Strickland did it to Gary Grant. Then James Robinson did it to Grant. Then Jerome Kersey did it to Danny Manning, hitting Robinson for the layup, perhaps for variety.

Then the Trail Blazers tried trick plays. Porter, saving the ball, teetered over the end line, threw it back in to Kersey and Kersey sank an 18-footer to beat the 24-second clock.

It was 32-12 after one quarter, 60-33 late in the second.

With the game all but officially decided, the Clippers began fighting back.

They cut it to 86-72 at the end of three quarters, to 88-83 when Grant made a 15-footer from the baseline with 9:02 to play.

But Weiss had to leave Manning, Harper and Mark Jackson on the floor the entire half and when the Trail Blazers rallied, the Clippers had nothing left. Buck Williams made a jump hook, was fouled, made the free throw and the Trail Blazers went on a 21-4 run.

Next stop: Orange County.

Clipper Notes

Danny Manning led all scorers with 26 points. . . . Portland’s Clyde Drexler has missed two games. In his absence, guards Rod Strickland and Terry Porter have played well, amid speculation Coach Rick Adelman may keep them in the lineup and move Drexler to small forward when he returns. “I think it’s something we’re going to have to look at,” said Adelman. “It’s been going back and forth all season: should Rod start? Should Terry start? Right now, it’s all people talk about.”