Clippers’ Seventh Loss Ties Franchise Mark : Pro basketball: Charlotte pulls away, 99-83. Season-opening winless streak will be on the line in Philadelphia.

The Clippers are the NBA’s answer to the Washington Generals, who served as foils to the Harlem Globetrotters.

Teams must salivate at the prospect of playing the Clippers, the league’s only winless team.

The Clippers extended their season-opening losing streak to seven games, falling behind by 26 points in the fourth quarter and losing to the Charlotte Hornets, 99-83, Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 23,670 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

“I’ve never been in a situation like this before,” Clipper forward Tony Massenburg said. “It’s no fun losing. We’re going to keep plugging away and we’ll get better each game.”

The Clippers, who matched the 1982-83 San Diego Clippers for the worst start in franchise history, tonight will play the struggling Philadelphia 76ers, who have lost six of eight games this season.

“We don’t get a lot of respect,” forward Loy Vaught said. “People write that we’re the worst team in the NBA and that’s kind of the opinion of the fans, but we have to believe in ourselves.”

Although the Clippers, the second-worst offensive team in the NBA, posted their lowest point total of the season and tied their season high with 26 turnovers, Coach Bill Fitch found something positive.

“It’s hard to have confidence when people are beating your brains out and when you miss layups and they hit 30-footers,” Fitch said. “But the thing that helps you is when you get a group out there that plays the fourth quarter the way we did.”

Trailing by 26 points two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Clippers outscored the Hornets, 24-8, in an eight-minute run to pull to 91-81, forcing Hornet Coach Allan Bristow to put all-stars Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning back in the game.

“Some team is going to lose to this Clipper team,” Bristow said.

The Clippers played tenacious defense in the fourth quarter, as the Hornets shot only 39%.

“Coach (Fitch) doesn’t give up,” said reserve guard Randy Woods, who had three assists in the fourth quarter. “He’ll still be coaching in the fourth quarter. Last year the coach (former Clipper Coach Bob Weiss) just let the last unit go out and play. This year Coach (Fitch) is still coaching because if you don’t play ‘D’ and do the things right at the end it’s going to affect your minutes the next game.”

Fitch was also pleased with the play of center Elmore Spencer.

Spencer, who has been lethargic since returning from the team’s season-opening games in Japan, played his best game so far, scoring 12 points, 11 in the first half.

Matched against Mourning, Spencer seemed animated, calling for the ball and challenging Mourning on two drives.

But Spencer didn’t get any rebounds in 29 minutes as the Clippers were outrebounded, 48-37.

“Same old, same old,” said Spencer as he made a quick exit from the locker room.

Leading by 10 points at halftime, the Hornets outscored the Clippers, 21-8, in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the third quarter to take a 23-point lead. Johnson, who finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, had seven points and four rebounds in the spurt.

The Clippers did little right in the third quarter, shooting 32% and giving away seven turnovers.

Clipper Notes

Reserve forward Harold Ellis played only three minutes after spraining his right ankle in the first half. Ellis was also playing with a sprained right wrist, suffered in Tuesday night’s loss to the Lakers. However, Coach Bill Fitch said Ellis probably will be available for tonight’s game at Philadelphia. . . . Rookie forward Eric Piatkowski had back spasms before the game, but played anyway, scoring five points and getting one rebound.