Despite Trying Four Against Five, Clippers Win

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Clippers will surprise you.

The Clippers were called for a technical for having too few players on the court in the first half of Monday night’s 101-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves before an announced 6,024, their smallest crowd of the season, at the Sports Arena.

With 2:46 remaining in the second quarter, Eric Piatkowski reported to the scorers’ table, but a timeout was called before he reported into the game to replace Terry Dehere.

After the Clippers broke the huddle, Piatkowski stayed at the scorer’s table because Dehere was shooting a free throw. However, rookie forward Lamond Murray remained on the bench after the huddle because he thought Piatkowski was coming in for him.

The Clippers could have inserted a player between free throws but didn’t recognize it in time and referee Jake O’Donnell called the technical.

Has Clipper Coach Bill Fitch, who has coached more games than any other NBA coach, seen it called before?

“I’d like to think it was the best defense we had out there tonight,” Fitch quipped. “They only scored one point off it.

“Terry was shooting the free throws and Piatkowski was going into replace him and I guess every time Lamond sees Piatkowski coming in he thinks he’s coming in for him.

“So we sat over there and discussed what we were going to do and I guess Lamond liked where he was sitting. . . . Like I told the guys in there, I don’t mind looking stupid. In fact, there’s probably people out there that think I smartened up and finally got four guys out there that could play D.

“Normally I’d fine a player, but you’ve got two rookies involved and I figure that’s just another page in the book of a rookie. . . . I’ve seen it, but never to one of my teams.”

Murray scored four consecutive points after the technical.

“I thought Piatkowski was coming in for me and nobody said anything,” Murray said. “I assumed that he was coming in for me and I sat out. Things like that happen. Nobody noticed it. It’s just a small mistake that happened.”

Timberwolf badboy Christian Laettner, who had 19 points and seven rebounds, also drew a technical for delay of game with 10:15 remaining in the game because he threw a ball and hit a fan seated courtside.

“I was throwing the ball (to) the ref,” Laettner said. “It was a delay-of-game technical. I was trying to throw it to the ref.”

Asked if he was aiming at the fan, Laettner said sarcastically, “I was aiming at someone in the upper deck and I missed. Don’t ask me if I’m aiming at him if I told you I didn’t throw it at him.”

Allie Mallad, 39, of Riverside, the fan hit by the ball, said he thought Laettner should have been thrown out of the game.

“He’s just a big baby,” said Mallad, who said he won’t pursue legal action against Laettner. “If he would have done something to hurt me I would have taken action. That’s not professional basketball.”

Center Tony Massenburg had 19 points, one shy of his career-high.

Clipper Notes

Minnesota Coach Bill Blair said before the game that Isaiah Rider was fined one game’s pay, $31,707.32, for missing the team flight from Minneapolis to Los Angeles Saturday. . . . Blair said the Timberwolves will sign former UCLA guard Darrick Martin, who had averaged 13.5 points in his last two games prior to the Clipper game, for the rest of the season.