Even as a Coach, Bird Is Troublesome for Clippers

The Clippers got a look at why Larry Bird is proving to be as good a coach as he was a player as the Indiana Pacers extended their winning streak to six consecutive games with a 99-92 victory Sunday night before 9,270 at the Sports Arena.

“We’ve been playing well,” said Bird, the former Boston great who played on three NBA championship teams with the Celtics. “The last six games we’ve had to come from behind to win, but the team showed me a lot of character in doing that.

“Tonight I don’t feel we played our best, but we got the win.”

Bird, as modest as he was good, refused to take credit for the Pacers’ success.

“It’s always a transition,” Bird said. “I’m a very small part of what’s happening here. They’re the ones doing all the work.”

Bird, who will coach the Eastern Conference all-stars, led the Pacers to a 12-2 record last month.

“It’s a great honor for myself and the Pacers, but I’m not in this to get recognition, I’ve had plenty of that,” Bird said. “They don’t need any coaching, so maybe I should stay home.”

“Coach Bird should be the coach of the year,” Pacer guard Mark Jackson said.

The Clippers, who took the Chicago Bulls into double overtime before losing earlier this season, outscored the Pacers, 17-7, to cut a 14-point deficit to 94-90 with 1:54 left on a layup by forward Rodney Rogers, who had 10 points in the fourth quarter.

However, Reggie Miller made a three-point basket with 13.5 seconds left to extend the Clippers’ losing streak to eight games.

“It shouldn’t have come down to my shot to decide the game,” Miller said. “We were kind of relaxed and you can’t do that against a good offensive team like the Clippers.”

Forward Maurice Taylor said the Clippers had their problems in the fourth quarter.

“I can’t say we what we did in the fourth quarter was playing,” Taylor said. “They ran a lot and went down to Rik Smits.”

Swingman Lorenzen Wright, starting his second consecutive game at center, had 10 points and 17 rebounds.

Wright also did a good job of guarding Smits, who made nine of 22 shots, and had 23 points and eight rebounds.

Guard James Robinson, who missed all of his six shots in Friday night’s 97-87 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, made his first three shots and had seven points and two rebounds in the second quarter as the Clippers outscored the Pacers, 29-21, to cut it to 57-50.

The Clippers--the NBA’s worst defensive team-- limited the Pacers, who rank second in the league in three-point shooting at 39.1%, to 16.7% from beyond the arc.

But the offense was lifeless as the Clippers shot 39.5%. They have been outshot in 12 of the last 14 games.

Guard Darrick Martin missed nine of 11 shots, Wright missed seven of 10 and Taylor missed 10 of 15.

“We can’t get anything but better,” Martin said. “We played really hard against one of the best teams in the East.”