Clippers Get to Overtime, but Still Lose : Pro basketball: Golden State lets lead slip away but prevails, 127-124, to hand L.A. its 13th consecutive defeat to start the season.

Nobody is going to believe this.

The Clippers, who have been putting crowds to sleep this season with their inept play, put Golden State Warrior Coach Don Nelson to sleep.

After watching his team take a 21-point lead 10 minutes into Tuesday night’s game against the NBA’s only winless team, Nelson elected to play his reserves in the second quarter.

Nelson might be a brilliant coach, but his ploy almost helped the Clippers win their first game of the season as they forced the Warriors into overtime.

However, guard Ricky Pierce scored seven of his 25 points in overtime as the Warriors handed the Clippers their 13th loss in as many games, 127-124, before a sellout crowd of 15,025 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

All-Star guard Latrell Sprewell broke out of a shooting slump by scoring 17 of his 31 points in the final quarter as the Warriors (8-5) ended a four-game losing streak.

The Clippers, who failed to win a game in November, are four losses away from tying the record for the worst start in NBA history, established when the Miami Heat lost its first 17 games in 1988.

“That one hurt,” Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said after his team lost its first overtime game of the season and extended its losing streak to 17 over the last two seasons.

“After all we’ve been through, that was like sticking a knife in. We worked awful hard. If you measure losses, in positive and negative, (we had) confidence-building situations we can’t possibly create in practice.”

Guard Pooh Richardson thinks the Clippers can learn from the loss.

“Everyone asks me if this hurt, that’s negative,” Richardson said. “I don’t look at it like that. There’s something positive in this. This is the first time we played a real quality team like them down to the end and had a chance to win the game.

“Does it hurt? Yes, it hurts, but we did a lot of things we weren’t expected to do. Everybody thought we were going to come in here and get blown out. We didn’t do that and we had a chance to win the game on several occasions.

“The only thing that didn’t happen was maybe an experienced play here or there.”

With the score tied, 124-124, Warrior guard Tim Hardaway, who had 15 points and seven assists, made a reverse layup and a free throw after he was fouled by Clipper forward Tony Massenburg, who had 17 points and 16 rebounds, with 42.4 seconds left in overtime to give the Warriors a three-point lead.

The Clippers had three shots to win it but Richardson, who had 17 points and 15 assists, missed two three-point shots and rookie forward Lamond Murray also missed a three-pointer.

The Clippers, who trailed, 117-111, outscored the Warriors, 6-1, in the final 1:16 of regulation to send the game into overtime tied, 118-118.

With the Warriors leading, 117-113, after Sprewell made a jumper with 36 seconds left, the Clippers called a timeout to set up a play and Murray scored on a drive and made a free throw after he was fouled by Pierce with 16.9 seconds left to make it 117-116.

Murray, who grew up in nearby Fremont and played at Cal, had 19 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter.

Clipper swingman Malik Sealy fouled Hardaway, who made the second of two free throws for a 118-116 lead with 12.5 seconds left.

The Clippers called a timeout to set up a play and Richardson hit a jumper with 4.3 seconds left to tie it, 118-118.

The Warriors had a chance to win it in regulation, but Massenburg blocked Pierce’s running jumper as time ran out to force a five-minute overtime period.

The fans were laughing at the Clippers after the Warriors took a 55-34 second-quarter lead. But the Clippers quieted them by outscoring the Warriors, 61-45, in the second and third quarters and cut Golden State’s lead to 85-83 going into the fourth quarter on Richardson’s three-point shot from the top of the key at the end of the third quarter.

The Clippers, who made four of their first five shots in the fourth quarter, took a 92-91 lead when Richardson made a three-pointer with 9:26 left. But the Warriors outscored them, 16-10, to take a 107-102 lead.

Clipper Notes

Warrior center Manute Bol will have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today in Washington, D.C. The 7-7 center tore the lateral meniscus cartilage in his right knee in a game at Charlotte last week.