Clippers Start Fast but Slowly Unravel

There’s no place like home for the Houston Rockets, especially against the Clippers.

Hakeem Olajuwon scored 35 points and moved within three blocks of an NBA record as the Rockets rallied for a 115-107 victory Thursday night over the Clippers, who lost for the 19th consecutive time at The Summit.

Olajuwon, who had three blocks in the game, has 3,187 in his career, two shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record.

“That should be a good goal for me to shoot for in the last game of the season,” Olajuwon said. “There’s no question that’s a big accomplishment and it will be good for me to concentrate on in Sunday’s game.”

Loy Vaught led the Clippers with 24 points and 13 rebounds and Pooh Richardson finished with 19 points.

The Rockets kept their home streak alive against the Clippers, but it wasn’t easy.

Houston trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter but tightened up defensively in the fourth, taking their first lead of the second half, 94-92, with 8:03 left on a jumper by Olajuwon.

“The Clippers played hard. They almost got us tonight,” Mario Elie said. “But when we decided to turn it up, our defense played a lot better. Dream [Olajuwon] was fantastic.

“We’ve got to get back to our defense. That wasn’t our defense the first half.”

The Clippers took their final lead, 101-99, with 4:15 to play but consecutive three-point baskets by Elie and Sam Cassell kept the Rockets in the lead.

The Clippers finally succumbed to the pressure with three turnovers in the final 1:21.

“Their experience came through at crunch time,” Vaught said.

With the Rockets leading, 108-107, Olajuwon got his third block and Cassell scooped it up and got the ball in to Drexler for a basket and a 110-107 lead.

Mark Bryant then took the ball away from Malik Sealy before a free throw by Cassell and Clyde Drexler stole the ball from Richardson, leading to a layup by Elie with 16.4 seconds to go.

“That’s the chemistry that they have,” Richardson said. “They came through in the fourth quarter and outlasted us. After Dream got going, Houston was able to spread it out and they took control of the game.”