Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 10, 1994

The coach is their fifth in the last six seasons. . . .

They have had two losing seasons in a row. . . .

Their starting lineup is the youngest in the NBA. . . .

Which L.A. team is this? . . .

The Lakers. . . .

The Clippers fit only the first description. . . .

Pat Riley must have had trouble recognizing the Lakers on Tuesday in New York when Del Harris sent out Cedric Ceballos and George Lynch at forwards, Vlade Divac at center, and Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel at guards. . . .

The average age was 24. . . .

But the Sons of Showtime nearly upset the Knicks, routed Minnesota on Wednesday and promised to bring some excitement back to the Forum starting Friday against the Denver Nuggets. . . .

The Clippers, who open their Sports Arena schedule tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, will be a pleasant surprise if they can approach their average record of 29-53 since moving from San Diego 10 years ago. . . .

“Losses are no fun, no matter what country you’re in,” Coach Bill Fitch said after a couple of lopsided defeats to the Portland Trail Blazers in Japan. . . .

Half the players who will suit up tonight are new--rookies Lamond Murray, Eric Piatkowski and Matt Fish and veterans Pooh Richardson, Malik Sealy, and Tony Massenburg. . . .

“Our goal is to play hard every night and keep getting better,” Fitch, the realist, said. . . .

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Perhaps one reason the Raider offense is so predictable is that they don’t have a go-to tight end. . . .

Dave Casper, Todd Christensen and, to a lesser extent, Ethan Horton were integral parts of the passing attack over the years. . . .

The Raiders have a 5-2 edge over the Rams in their series, 3-1 since the move from Oakland. . . .

No wonder Sunday’s game at Anaheim Stadium is a sellout. Every Raider road game has been. . . .

NFL officiating is worse than ever and in need of a youth movement. . . .

Les Josephson, the former Ram fullback, serves as analyst on University of Arizona radio broadcasts. . . .

The Wildcats and USC, who play Saturday at the Coliseum, will be rooting for Stanford to defeat Oregon at Palo Alto. The Cardinal has scored more points and given up more than any other team in the Pacific 10 Conference. . . .

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John Robinson on effervescent Trojan wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson: “If we played Egypt next week, he’d know eight guys on the Egyptian team.” . . .

Robinson says freshman Brian Kelly might become USC’s greatest cornerback. Nate Shaw, in 1966, is the only Trojan to be named All-American at the position. . . .

Terry Donahue should have a fond spot in his heart for Sun Devil Stadium, where the Bruins play Arizona State on Saturday night. . . .

In Donahue’s first game as coach in 1976, the Bruins upset the third-ranked Sun Devils, 28-10, at Tempe. . . .

The Pac-10 leads the nation in nicknames for defenses--Arizona’s “Desert Swarm,” Washington State’s “Palouse Posse” and Oregon’s “Gang Green.” . . .

Napoleon Kaufman of Washington has joined Anthony Davis and Charles White from USC, Darrin Nelson from Stanford, and Russell White from California as the only conference backs to rush for more than 1,000 yards three seasons. . . .

For the first time, the Norris brothers will defend world titles on the same card Saturday night in Mexico City. World Boxing Council super-welterweight champion Terry Norris fights Luis Santana on the pay-per-view TV show, and World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris faces James Heath. . . .

Two other losers of the George Foreman-Michael Moorer fight might have been Riddick Bowe and James Toney. . . .

Bowe, who fights Larry Donald on Dec. 3 in Las Vegas, was trying to secure a title match against Moorer. . . .

The longshot possibility was Moorer vs. James Toney, who balloons to 200 pounds between fights. Of course, Toney will have more than enough to handle when he defends his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title against Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 18. . . .

Foreman would like to make his first title defense at the Astrodome in his hometown of Houston against a hand-picked opponent. . . .

If Terry Bradshaw and Joe Theismann debated, who would get the last word in?