Clippers Chopped Down to Size Again : Pro basketball: Mutombo’s height and 21 points and 16 rebounds an old problem in 101-89 loss to Nuggets.

The Clippers, who lost 7-foot center Stanley Roberts because of a torn Achilles’ tendon before the season, can get by without a legitimate center against most teams, but not against the Denver Nuggets and 7-2 Dikembe Mutombo.

Mutombo had 21 points and 16 rebounds as the Nuggets defeated the Clippers, 101-89, Saturday night before an announced crowd of 9,334 at the Sports Arena.

“Donald, get a center!” a heckler shouted at Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling with the Clippers behind by 21 points in the fourth quarter.

How much do the Clippers miss Roberts?

“It’s obvious,” guard Pooh Richardson said. “You could see that with Braille, that you need a big man when you play against seven-foot guys. You can play hard and be in the game, but when the game gets tight, all you have to do is throw it into the big man.”

Tony Massenburg, the Clippers’ starting center, missed six of nine shots and had six points and nine rebounds. Reserve center Eric Riley had five points and six rebounds.

“He’s real tough to guard when he gets the ball down under the basket,” Massenburg said of Mutombo, who made nine of 11 shots. “He’s 7-2 and he doesn’t have a long way to go to put it in, and if you have to guard him by yourself, that makes it tougher. There’s not a whole lot you can do except foul.”

The Clippers, who trailed, 80-59, outscored the Nuggets, 23-10, in a 6:06 span of the final quarter to pull within 90-82 on a dunk by forward Lamond Murray with 2:34 left.

But the Nuggets held off the Clippers.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf had 16 points and eight assists and former Clipper Reggie Williams had 14 points and six rebounds as the Nuggets won their third consecutive game.

The Clippers have the second-worst scoring average in the NBA behind the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging only 95.1 points per game, but they reached a new low when they scored only six points in the first 9 1/2 minutes of the third quarter.

“We didn’t come out with any energy,” Richardson said of the third quarter. “It didn’t seem like we had any spark. I don’t know why, we just didn’t have it.”

The Clippers missed 11 of their first 14 shots in the third quarter while falling behind by 19 points. The Nuggets wound up outscoring the Clippers, 21-12, in the quarter to take a 70-55 lead going into the final period. The Clippers shot only 25% (five of 20) in the quarter.

Stunningly, the Clippers’ 12 points in the third quarter weren’t a season low. They scored only 10 in the second quarter of a 90-68 loss at Cleveland Jan. 23.

Forward Loy Vaught, averaging a team-high 17.1 points and 9.5 rebounds, had struggled in his last two games, scoring only 16 points, but made seven of 12 shots and scored a team-high 17 points.

“It felt better,” Vaught said. “Some shots fell for me tonight, so I’m very thankful for that, but to lose a game like this is very disappointing because this is a team that played last night and has a whole lot of guys injured.”

Said Fitch: “Offensively, he shot better, but he’s struggling defensively right now. He’s not all the way back yet. He’s got to keep coming.”