Clippers Powered by Spencer : Pro basketball: Enigmatic center has 24 points and eight rebounds in 114-110 victory over the Trail Blazers.

Elmore Spencer, a 7-foot center, might be the Clippers’ biggest enigma.

Capable of dominating a game, he can just as easily vanish.

Spencer, who had career highs of 28 points and 14 rebounds in a 10-point victory against the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 25, has been inconsistent since, averaging 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in his last 10 games. He was benched for the second half of last Tuesday night’s victory over the Utah Jazz because he was unable to contain center Felton Spencer.

But matched against Portland center Cliff Robinson in Sunday night’s game against the Trail Blazers, Spencer scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Clippers won, 114-110, before an announced crowd of 13,531 at the Sports Arena.

“(Spencer) had a great game,” said Clipper forward Dominique Wilkins, who had 26 points and eight rebounds. “When you get that kind of effort out of him every night it makes us that much tougher because they have to play him in the post.

“We definitely need that from him every night, and he has the ability to do that. He has to come out and believe in himself and play hard.”

After scoring nine points in the first half, Spencer had 15 points and five rebounds in the second as the Clippers (24-39) won for the fifth time in six games to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. They trail the Denver Nuggets (32-32) by 7 1/2 games in the race for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth.

The Clippers, who have won four of their last five home games, open a six-game Eastern trip Tuesday against the New Jersey Nets at East Rutherford, N.J.

“We’ve shown that we can win at home, we just have to show that we can win on the road,” Clipper Coach Bob Weiss said.

With the Clippers leading, 112-109, after Trail Blazer forward Buck Williams made two free throws with 1:18 to play, Spencer dunked off a no-look flip from Ron Harper to give the Clippers a 114-109 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Harper, who had averaged 32 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.6 steals over the last five games, had 22 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and five steals.

Wilkins, who missed 12 of 22 shots in Thursday’s 102-99 loss to Denver, continued to struggle, making 10 of 25 shots. But Wilkins, who missed four of five shots in the third quarter, got hot when it counted, making three of four shots and scoring nine points in the final quarter.

The Clippers also got a good contribution from their bench as reserve forward Harold Ellis made his first five shots and scored 15 points.

With the score tied, at 105-105, after Harvey Grant, who had 28 points, made a jumper with 3:50 remaining, the Clippers scored five points in a row to take a 110-105 lead. Harper made a free throw after he was fouled by Grant, who committed his sixth foul with 3:40 remaining, and scored on a layin with 3:12 left to give the Clippers a 108-105 lead.

Clipper Notes

Dominique Wilkins, whose agent revealed Saturday that he has broken off contract talks with the Clippers, said he won’t let the stalled talks affect his performance. “I’m just going to continue to come out and play ball, I’m not going to worry about that too much anymore,” said Wilkins, who could become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. “I’ll just do what I have to do and go from there.” . . . The Clippers activated forward Loy Vaught, who had sat out the last six games because of a strained right hip flexor. Vaught had no points and no rebounds in 10 minutes as a reserve. To make room for Vaught, the Clippers placed Tom Tolbert on the injured list because of a lower back strain. Tolbert will be eligible to return to the active roster on March 28.