He Hasn’t Had His Fill Yet

As they trudged away from another gasping miss Saturday, their heartaches covered in bright streamers twirling from the Delta Center ceiling, you were struck by an odd feeling.

You want to give the Clippers something.

They lost a playoff game to the celebrated Utah Jazz by two possessions.

They lost by six points--105-99--after trailing by 16 at halftime with their hottest shooter throwing up in the locker room.

Against all odds, they did everything they could, with nearly everyone they had.

So now, you want to give them something.

You want to give them an established big man. So Bo Outlaw won’t have to guard Karl Malone. So 72 of their 99 points wouldn’t be scored by somebody smaller than 6 feet 8.

You want to give them more playoff experience. So when the roof is rattling as the second quarter is ending, they are not forgetting what time it is.

You want to give them a leader. So when they finally get a stunning lead on a daring layup by Darrick Martin with 4:28 left in the third quarter, everyone doesn’t stand around in awe until Howard Eisley is doing the same thing for the Jazz 15 seconds later.

And you want to promise them that people back home are actually watching and caring what they do.

You want to promise them a full house on Monday.

That is when the Jazz, with a 2-0 lead in this best-of-five series, will try to close them out at the Sports Arena.

It will be the first NBA playoff game there in four years. It will be the Clippers’ best, and perhaps last, chance to display the virtues of a team whose shirts still flop to their knees and whose tennis shoes still squeak.

It’s a good night for gym rats. The Lakers are off. The Angels are off. The Dodgers are out of town. Tickets ranging from $55 to $15 are still available.

You hate Donald Sterling for refusing to move to Anaheim? You think Elgin Baylor is a foolish talent evaluator? Bill Fitch is too old?

Fine. Don’t come for them, come for the players, who proved again Saturday that wondrous things can happen when you have no idea who is going to get the credit.

Watching them is a little like watching the movie “Hoosiers”--only in the end, the kid misses the free throw and the little team becomes the object of ridicule.

It’s a blast. And it stinks.

“What strikes me about this team is, they always work hard,” said center Rich Manning, who just joined them from the CBA on April 1 and--no fooling--played 15 decent minutes.

“They are like a CBA team in their work habits,” Manning said. “Everybody is always working to get better, always working on their game.”

And always working on the court. So with Malik Sealy sidelined because of stomach problems after scoring nine first-quarter points, with two starters having three fouls, with the Jazz just completing a 20-9 run to end the first half . . .

Loy Vaught starts the third quarter with a jumper. Rodney Rogers makes a three-pointer. Lorenzen Wright slaps the ball away, Brett Barry turns it into a slam dunk.

And on it went until the Clippers took the lead for those 14 seconds, then lost their composure at the end of the quarter after a Malone jumper caused the crowd to stand and roar for the final minute.

They chased the Jazz throughout the fourth quarter, but, as usual, were never quite big enough, or fast enough, or strong enough.

That is why you want to give them something, because the Clippers give you everything and it’s still not enough.

“We were one rebound away, one shot, one hold . . . from making this thing interesting,” Fitch said.

That has always been the case. Some wonder if it will continue to be the case, as long as the team does not spend the money to finish the job.

Fitch is doing his part, making wholesale substitutions that worked, calling plays that bewitched the well-coached team of Jerry Sloan.

“Tonight, we really used the Ouija board,” he said.

The players are doing their part, believing when everyone says they are fools. Or, as one columnist here noted, a first-round bye.

“As a team, maybe we think we can move mountains,” said Barry, who played only half of the fourth quarter after scoring eight points in the third.

That’s another thing you want to give the Clippers. More confidence in their excitable child.

But for now, perhaps, a full house on Monday night will do.

Easy for me to say, I get in free. But this team and its challenge is something you might want to witness before it disappears for the summer.

“You saw the effect it had here,” Fitch said of a large crowd. “I don’t want to be embarrassed by not having a playoff atmosphere there.”

Barry shrugged, as all Clippers shrug when asked about their popularity.

“I’m not expecting that,” he said of a full house. “All year, the players on this team have only been supported by the other players.

“It would be nice to have an enthusiastic crowd, but if not, we’ll just do it ourselves like we’ve done it all year.”

Which is exactly the problem. Try as they might, the dozen men on the Clippers’ playoff roster cannot do it themselves.

Not for any length of time.

Not that anyone cares.