Clippers’ Resurgence Short-Lived

The Clippers might have had trouble beating a CBA team the way they played Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Clippers had made a lot of progress after opening the season with 16 consecutive losses, winning two of their last three games.

But they regressed against the Trail Blazers, falling behind by 53 points and losing, 121-73, before a sellout crowd of 12,888.

But Clipper Coach Bill Fitch didn’t lose his sense of humor after his team suffered its worst defeat of the season and scored the fewest points in a game since the team has been in Los Angeles.

“We didn’t play well, and if there’s anyone on our team that doesn’t know that, they have Robert Parish’s number (00) for an IQ,” Fitch said. “Any of you guys ever go to the dentist and (not get) Novocain? That’s very similar to this ballgame.

“How bad was this? I wasn’t at Bataan, but is must have been something like this. How long was the game? It seemed like all day in the sun.”

At times it appeared that the Clippers, who shot a season-low 32.6%, didn’t know the plays as they ran into each other and didn’t know where to go.

“That was a display of total nothingness,” swingman Malik Sealy said. “We didn’t do anything tonight.”

The Clippers, who trailed by 117-64 with 57 seconds remaining, were on the verge of breaking the franchise record for largest margin of defeat (51 points), but guard Terry Dehere, who had a team-high 17 points, made three three-pointers in the final 46 seconds.

Beaten in nearly every phase of the game, the Clippers were outrebounded, 66-29, as Portland posted the second-largest margin of victory in franchise history.

“We improved so much in the last three games, it’s tough to understand why we didn’t play well,” Dehere said. “This league is too good to get down by more than 50 points and be able to come back.”

Fitch was concerned about stopping Trail Blazer guard Clyde Drexler, who averaged 33.5 points against the Clippers in their season-opening games in Japan last month.

“We tried everything except a gun over in Japan (to stop Drexler), and if that had been legal we would have tried it,” Fitch said before the game. “This is the time for good cheer, the Christmas spirit. I think he should have the night off.”

But Fitch should have worried about stopping center Chris Dudley.

Dudley, who outscored and outrebounded the Clippers in the first quarter, 11-10 and 11-6, finished with season highs of 15 points and 20 rebounds, one shy of his career high, as the Trail Blazers beat the Clippers for the third time in three games this season. Dudley, who made his first five shots, tied his career high by making seven of 10 shots as Portland shot a season-high 54.8%.

“I think the key tonight is that we didn’t take them lightly,” Dudley said. “They had played three really good games in a row, winning two of them and taking Seattle to (double) overtime.”

James Robinson had a team-high 21 points in 23 minutes as a reserve, and Cliff Robinson and Mark Bryant each had 18 points.

With his team trailing by 24 points, 50-26, at halftime, Fitch changed his starting lineup, inserting forward Harold Ellis in place of Sealy, who missed five of six shots in the first half.

But it didn’t do any good as the Trail Blazers took a 40-point lead into the final quarter.

Clipper Notes

The Clippers waived seven-foot center Bob Martin before the game. Although all NBA contracts are automatically guaranteed on Jan. 10, Martin, who signed a $250,000, one-year deal last summer, had a clause inserted in his contract that guaranteed the deal on Dec. 15 so that he’d have time to catch on with another NBA team or a European team if he didn’t make it with the Clippers. “Coach (Bill) Fitch evidently didn’t know until last night what the deal was,” Martin said. If Martin clears waivers, the Clippers can re-sign him. Martin, who was on the injured list for the first 16 games because of a bruised right heel, had played in one game this season, scoring two points.

The previous Los Angeles Clipper record for fewest points scored in a game was set in a 104-75 loss to the New Jersey Nets on March 1, 1988. The Clippers tied the record in an 85-75 loss to the Lakers in a nationally televised game on Christmas Day in 1991. The San Diego Clipper record for fewest points in a game was set in a 98-74 loss to Seattle on Dec. 13, 1981. The franchise record for fewest points scored in game was set by the Buffalo Braves in a 91-63 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 21, 1972.