Williams Is a No-Basket Case

Clipper center Brian Williams walked over to the press table after drawing his fifth foul with eight minutes left in Saturday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors and picked up a TV monitor.

“How much does one of these cost?” Williams said as he pretended to smash it in anger.

Williams had reason to be frustrated, failing to make a field goal in the Clippers’ 86-80 loss to the Warriors before 15,025 fans at the Oakland Coliseum.

Williams missed all three shots as the Clippers had their lowest scoring game of the season. The Clippers (17-36) have lost 16 of their last 18 games.

“I made one but they called a foul and I didn’t get a basket,” Williams said. “I’ve never had a game like that. There were a lot of opportunities for easy baskets.”

Taking over for guard Pooh Richardson, who missed six of seven shots, Terry Dehere scored 12 fourth-quarter points, including 10 in a row, as the Clippers cut it to 83-80. The Clippers had a chance to cut the deficit to one point, but Dehere was called for an offensive foul when he charged into guard Bimbo Coles with 1:15 remaining and guard Latrell Sprewell, who missed 11 of his first 13 shots, made a three-point shot with 55 seconds remaining.

“I definitely think it was a bad call,” said Dehere, who had 19 points in 24 minutes as a reserve. “He was on the side of me when the foul was initially committed, so if anything it’s a good no-call. You don’t get a charge out of that when the guy is on the side of you and happens to fall down. We can’t get a break.”

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch was looking at a videotape of the charging call against Dehere when reporters entered the locker room.

“That was a very important point in the game and naturally we don’t agree with it,” Fitch said. “You’ve got to get a few more calls than that. I haven’t said a word publicly about the officiating and I’m not going to start now, but I’m going to write a few letters just to see if there isn’t some way we can get a better shake.”

Leading by six points in the third quarter, the Clippers were outscored, 20-8, in the final 10:23 of the period as the Warriors took a 65-59 lead into the final quarter. The Clippers tied a season low by scoring only 12 points in the period, making six of 21 shots (28.6%).

The Warriors were playing their first game since trading disgruntled guard Tim Hardaway and center Chris Gatling to the Miami Heat for forward Kevin Willis and Coles.

Although Willis won’t displace Smith, the NBA’s leading rookie rebounder, he provides insurance in case disgruntled center Rony Seikaly, who asked to be traded, is unproductive.

“I’m not disappointed that I wasn’t traded,” Seikaly said. “It’s not a matter of being disappointed. I didn’t think I was helping this team like I could and maybe it was better if I went somewhere else and tried to help another team.”

The Warriors hope to re-sign Sprewell, who had several run-ins with Hardaway. Sprewell and Hardaway had to be separated by teammates between periods during a game against the Boston Celtics earlier this month.

“It’s just a business,” Sprewell said when asked if he was relieved that Hardaway was gone. “It was something that ownership felt needed to be done.”

Sprewell isn’t saying whether he’ll return here.

“I’m trying not to worry about next year,” he said.