Clippers Run Out of Time and Chances : Pro basketball: They can’t get off shot in final seconds, then lose to Atlanta, 94-88.

The Clippers had their turkey dinner on their charter flight here Christmas Day to start a four-game trip. The opener wasn’t all they could wish for, either.

They spent Tuesday night kicking the basketball around the Omni, botched a chance at a game-tying three-point shot in the final seconds and lost to the Hawks, 94-88, ending their winning streak at two games.

The chance to tie went to Lamond Murray, who found himself camped on the three-point line with the ball.

Murray thought about taking the shot, decided not to, passed off, got it back and appeared to be lining up a deeper three but brought it down. Before he could decide what to do next, Atlanta’s Grant Long tipped the ball away and the Hawks got it.

“I wanted Lamond to call time out,” said Coach Bill Fitch. “We had two timeouts. I wanted to push the ball down and see if we could get an easy one. He was out there with people on him. I hope he wasn’t trying to shoot.”

Actually, there were a number of things going through Murray’s mind but calling time wasn’t one.

“I had a shot but when I went to take it, a player jumped out at me,” Murray said. “Loy [Vaught] came down the court wide open and he yelled to me. I threw him the ball.

“I was surprised the ball came back to me. I had nowhere to go with it. I made a bad decision, turned the ball over. I guess that was our chance to tie the game.”

The Hawks might have blown the Clippers out if their leader and point guard Mookie Blaylock hadn’t missed 13 of 19 shots.

The Clippers, meanwhile, were specializing in the turnover. They committed 22, the highlight coming when Pooh Richardson took an in-bounds pass after an Atlanta basket, turned to dribble up the floor and bounced the ball off a teammate’s foot, out of bounds.

“I don’t want to see that one again,” Fitch said. “I mean, that was a miracle--22 turnovers and you’ve got a chance to win the ball game.

“That was our Christmas party, New Year’s Eve party, Christmas Eve party, all the cookies and all the candy. We just couldn’t run it off.”

The Hawks took an early seven-point lead when one of the many Clipper alumni, Ken Norman, lit them up for 11 points in the first quarter. When the Clippers caught up, Norman hit them for nine more, with two steals, in the first 3:20 of the third quarter.

“I’m real glad to see those guys,” said Norman, “even though Loy is the only one who was on the team when I was there. I still support those guys.

“To be honest with you, when I was in Milwaukee, when I first left, when all those guys went out on the court, I felt like crying. I love those guys. I developed a relationship with them. I wish those guys nothing but the best.”

That gave Norman something in common with Fitch. Sometimes the Clipper coach sees the guys running around on the floor and he feels like crying too. Tuesday night was a double-hankie game.

Clipper Notes

As he has in some recent games, Bill Fitch went with Terry Dehere at the point in the fourth quarter rather than Pooh Richardson. “Whichever one of them is going good is who you finish with,” Fitch said. . . . Rodney Rogers, out since Dec. 2 because of a severely sprained ankle, is on the trip but may not be ready until the team returns home. “He’s quite a ways away,” Fitch said. “He didn’t have mobility today [in practice]. He’s still not able to practice with the team.” . . . Loy Vaught scored 23 points, his season high.