Shooter Piatkowski Beyond Rusty

Swingman Eric Piatkowski, who had played only two minutes in the Clippers’ last five games because Coach Bill Fitch felt he wasn’t ready after missing seven games because of flu, played 11 minutes in Friday night’s 102-86 loss at Seattle, scoring three points in 11 minutes with two turnovers and one steal.

“He’s light years out of it without having played,” Fitch said of Piatkowski, who made one of three shots.

Piatkowski said he was rusty.

“I was not real pleased at all, but it feels funny when you’ve been out for a long time and it takes a little bit of time to get back in the swing of things,” Piatkowski said. “I definitely feel like I could have done a ton of things better. But I’m going to keep working and it will come back.”

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Forward Lamond Murray, who had played only 31 minutes in the last five games, played 15 minutes against the SuperSonics because of a shoulder injury to forward Rodney Rogers.

Murray was ineffective, missing four of five shots and scoring five points, with two rebounds, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“You won’t ask me any more about Murray [and his decreased playing time], will you?” Fitch said.