Vaught Spurs Clippers to Win

Loy Vaught knew it couldn’t last.

The Clipper forward, who shot 51.5% in the first six years of his NBA career, shot 31.5% in his first nine games this season.

But Vaught broke out of his slump, making eight of nine shots and getting a season-high 20 points and eight rebounds as the Clippers won here for the first time in more than seven years, defeating the injury-depleted San Antonio Spurs, 93-81, Wednesday night before 13,386 at the Alamodome.

“I have too much pride to keep shooting the ball the way I had been,” said Vaught, who made his first seven shots. “I practiced a little extra and I got my confidence back.

“It’s a long year and I’ll get back to where I’m supposed to be. I’m supposed to shoot 51%, and anything less than that, I feel I’m not performing as good as I can because I feel I’m a good shooter and take good shots.

“Even though they were short-handed, it still feels good [to win at San Antonio]. We feel very good about ourselves right now.”

The Clippers, who ended a 14-game losing streak in San Antonio that dated to a 115-103 victory on March 13, 1989, took advantage of the absence of Spur center David Robinson, who hasn’t played this season because of a back injury.

Clipper centers Kevin Duckworth and Stanley Roberts outplayed Spur centers Will Perdue and Greg Anderson.

Duckworth, who had scored only five points in his last four games, had eight points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Roberts had 12 points, seven rebounds and one blocked shot in 18 minutes as the Clippers won their second consecutive game.

“I wasn’t trying to score every time I touched the ball, just to be more involved,” said Duckworth, who made four of 10 shots. “Today I just wanted to be more aggressive. [Brent] Barry put it in my mind to play more aggressive and I was thinking about that.

“I don’t think they need me to score 20 points to win, but I wanted to be more involved and not just settle for what I was doing the last few games.”

Informed that this was the Clippers’ first victory here in 15 games, Duckworth said: “I think the guys deserved it because they’ve had a good attitude this year.

It’s unfortunate that [the Spurs] don’t have David, but you can’t say they laid down and we blew them out without David.”

Asked what he told Duckworth, Barry said, “I don’t know if I told him to shoot more, I just told him to eat less. I figured he’d probably shoot more if he ate less . . . He got offensive and it helped us out.”

Roberts, who was forced to the locker room for treatment after bruising his hip when he fell after a second-quarter dunk, made two free throws in the final 1:13 as the Clippers held off the Spurs with an 8-0 spurt.

The Spurs, who’ve lost eight of their first 10 games after losing forwards Charles Smith (knee), Chuck Person (back) and Robinson (back), seem to have lost confidence.

“We’ve got to play smart in the fourth quarter, we can’t quit, we can’t lose confidence,” said former Clipper forward Dominique Wilkins, who led the Spurs with 24 points. “We’ve got to believe in one another.”