Even in Waves, Clippers Can’t Stop O’Neal : Pro basketball: Five try, none really succeed in Orlando’s 108-96 victory. L.A. goes 2-4 on trip.

Mark Aguirre looked up at Shaquille O’Neal and smiled.

The fifth player the Clippers used to defend O’Neal, Aguirre managed to keep the Orlando Magic’s All-Star center from scoring.

“At least I didn’t let him dunk in my face,” Aguirre said. “Hey, man, look, nobody in the league can stop him and I surely can’t stop him, so you might as well put me on him.”

Averaging a league-high 28.2 points before the game, O’Neal scored 40 and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Magic defeated the Clippers, 108-96, Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 15,291 at the Orlando Arena.

Although O’Neal had 31 points and 14 rebounds in his last game against the Clippers, center Elmore Spencer did a good job of containing him in the second half. The Clippers beat the Magic, 110-109, on Dec. 15 at the Sports Arena.

But Spencer was ineffective after drawing three first-quarter fouls, getting no points and three rebounds, and the Clippers used backup center Bob Martin and forwards Loy Vaught, Tom Tolbert and Aguirre on O’Neal.

No one could stop him. O’Neal made 17 of 27 shots, including seven dunks, and blocked four shots.

“Last year he just ran people over, but this year he’s smarter,” Aguirre said. “He knows when to use all the power he has. It’s scary to know that he’s learning these things at such a fast rate.”

Vaught agreed.

“If he gets anywhere down near the paint, the only thing you can do is foul him,” Vaught said. “You’ve got to keep it out of his hands.”

Rookie guard Anfernee Hardaway had 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and forward Nick Anderson had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando (21-16), off to the best start in franchise history.

The Clippers ended their six-game East Coast trip with a 2-4 record.

After losing to the New York Knicks by 21 points and Philadelphia 76ers by 19 in the first two games of the trip, the Clippers won two of their last four games, beating the Boston Celtics and overcoming a 19-point second-half deficit against the Miami Heat.

The Clippers trailed the Magic by as many as 17 points in the first half as O’Neal scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

They couldn’t come back. Danny Manning, who who had 17 points, scored only one point in the final quarter. Ron Harper, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds, scored only five in the fourth quarter. Mark Jackson, who had 16 points, scored only three in the fourth quarter.

“We were definitely hoping for a little better,” Coach Bob Weiss said of the trip. “It’s too bad we didn’t have Danny for the Washington game because that was one of the games I felt we had a shot to win with him.

“I would have liked to have won one or two more games, but I’ve seen improvement in the ballclub.”

Before leaving Los Angeles, several players had said this was a make-or-break trip for the Clippers (13-23).

“Addressing that statement, we’re broke, in my opinion,” Manning said. “But I didn’t make that statement. We can play better.”

Vaught agreed.

“It was a bad trip for us,” he said. “But like coach said, we seem to be pointed in the right direction.”

Clipper Notes

Clipper forward Danny Manning said the sprained left ankle that sidelined him for two games will probably bother him for the rest of the season. It was swollen after the game. Manning said he plans to have it examined by Dr. Steve Lombardo when the team returns home. . . . Asked if he would consider signing with Orlando when he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, Manning said, “It’s a possibility. . . . I’m not about money because if I was about money I would have signed with the Clippers because they offered me a nice deal. I’m going somewhere where I can win a championship.”