Clippers Start Their All-Star Break Early

A Denver Nugget cheerleader inadvertently walked off with the ball between the third and fourth quarters of Thursday night’s game between the Clippers and the Nuggets and play was halted while the officials searched for a new ball.

The Clippers, who trailed by 19 points going into the fourth quarter, probably wouldn’t have minded if they hadn’t found a new ball and the game was called.

No such luck.

The Clippers collapsed in the final 12 minutes, falling behind by 24 points and extending their second-longest losing streak of the season to eight games, 115-95, before a crowd of 15,997 at McNichols Arena.

“We played a little bit better with the second ball than we did with the first one,” Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said. “We probably should have attempted that coup earlier.

“Did you ever see three guys lose a ball before with the lights on and the crowd sitting up there? That’s what I’ve said all along, if you stay in this league long enough you’re going to see something.”

What were the bright spots for the Clippers (16-32), in their final game before the All-Star break?

“That was one of them,” Fitch said. “That was the only one of them. It’s like those old stories, our All-Star break officially starts now, but we got operation head start.”

The Clippers, who won their first three games against the Nuggets this season, started fast, taking a 13-3 lead four minutes into the game.

But Nugget guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf scored 13 points as Denver (20-27) took control with a 27-10 run in the final eight minutes of the quarter.

Abdul-Rauf, who made 13 of 24 shots, finished with 28 points, seven assists and two rebounds in 38 minutes.

“That little man can really shoot the ball,” Fitch said. “You got to love him. When he’s in that zone I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody who can come down and get rid of it quicker. If you blink you miss the shot.”

Clipper center Brian Williams, who spent two seasons in Denver before he was traded last year, agreed.

“Mahmoud’s strength is that he’s not a conventional shooter,” Williams said. “He shoots off the wrong foot and too quickly, nonetheless the gauge of a shooter is whether they go in or not and they go in.”

Williams, who had averaged 17 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists in two games against the Nuggets this season, wasn’t a factor after drawing his fourth foul only 1:41 into the second quarter.

Williams, who drew a flagrant foul when he belted Nugget guard Bryant Stith as he was going for a layup in the first quarter, finished with 16 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes.

But he spent almost as much time on the Clipper bench fighting Rocky, the Nugget mascot, as he did battling Nugget center Dikembe Mutombo.

“Dikembe had a dream or something about this game and they won,” Williams said. “He guaranteed a win and they won. We just guaranteed that we’d be on the court.”

Mutombo notched his sixth consecutive double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds as Denver earned its most lopsided victory of the season.

“I didn’t have a dream,” Mutombo said. “I just said whatever we have to do out there to labor to win this game, we have to do it because we were playing against the team that beat us three times.”