Clippers Put Wilkins (2 points) to Shame Along With Celtics

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way for Dominique Wilkins.

Wilkins, who signed with the Boston Celtics last summer after the Clippers rejected his huge contract demands, would prove that the Clippers, who probably lead the NBA in bad personnel decisions, made another poor one when they rejected him by showing up his former team Wednesday night at the Boston Garden.

But the Clippers’ decision to draft Cal forward Lamond Murray instead of re-signing Wilkins looked wise after Murray outscored Wilkins, 21-2, as the Clippers defeated the Celtics, 107-98, before a crowd of 14,890.

Booed throughout, Wilkins missed eight of nine shots in 20 minutes as the Celtics lost their sixth consecutive game. Benched at the start of the second half along with starters Eric Montross, David Wesley and Dee Brown after the Celtics fell behind by seven points at halftime, Wilkins played only seven minutes in the second half and left without speaking to reporters.

“They should have booed everybody,” said Celtic guard Sherman Douglas, who had 15 points. “They shouldn’t just pick on one guy.”

Said Wilkins of Clipper management before the game: “They didn’t tell me the truth about a lot of things. They lied to me about a lot of things.”

Clipper spokesman Joe Safety said, “We traded for the guy and made him a fast fair offer and he was insulted. Then we had a good draft and our needs and plans changed. What is his problem? He was treated very well here.

“If he’s so mad, why isn’t he satisfied to just be somewhere else? To be honest, this is exactly the kind of attitude we’ve tried to remove from our environment.”

Celtic forward Xavier McDaniel, who had 17 points and 15 rebounds, said Boston fans may expect too much from Wilkins, who signed an $11-million, three-year contract with the team after the Clippers rejected his demand for a $21-million, three-year deal.

“People expect a lot from Dominique, but he’s human,” McDaniel said. “Some nights you have games like that.”

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch, who coached the Celtics for four seasons, said he was unaware that the boos were directed at Wilkins, who has averaged a team-high 20.3 points this season.

“I think the last guy they booed that much that was probably a Celtic was me,” Fitch quipped.

Murray, who had made only six of 18 shots and averaged 6.5 points in his last two games, made nine of 17 shots as the Clippers ended a three-game losing streak.

Angry after getting a technical foul along with Celtic forward Rick Fox for arguing with 1:03 left in the first quarter, Murray scored six points as the Clippers outscored Boston, 16-4, in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and built a 13-point lead.

The Clippers, who had set a team-record for fewest points in a game in Monday’s 90-68 loss at Cleveland, looked like a different team against the Celtics.

“We had a meeting today and we talked about some of the issues that caused us to play so badly in Cleveland,” said forward Loy Vaught, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds.

“This is definitely the lowest part of my five years here,” Brown said. “They had six wins and they came in here and beat us tonight. They beat us from the jump ball to the end ball.”