Clippers Do a Lot of Good Things, but They Still Lose

Rodney Rogers scored a career-high 34 points.

Lamond Murray had 28.

Lorenzen Wright of the Clippers grabbed 22 rebounds, tying his career best.

The Washington Wizards were playing without Chris Weber and Juwan Howard.

The Wizards were held to 21 points in the fourth quarter.

And the Clippers still lost.

The 111-104 loss Wednesday night at the Sports Arena was the 14th in 16 games for the Clippers, who lost to the Wizards for the eighth time in their last nine meetings.

Rod Strickland had 31 points and 13 assists, and Calbert Cheaney scored 22 of his 28 points in the first half for the Wizards.

Webber, the Wizards’ leading scorer, missed his fourth consecutive game because of a strained right shoulder and Howard sat out his second in a row because of a sprained right ankle.

Brent Barry, playing his first home game since Jan. 22 because of an injured left foot, entered the contest with 1:09 left in the third quarter and the Clippers trailing, 88-75. He led a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter with two free throws, a three-pointer and a driving layup that reduced a 10-point deficit to 100-97 with 2:50 to play.

The Wizards responded with a layup by Cheaney and a dunk by Ben Wallace for a 104-97 lead with 1:27 left. Rogers made a three-point shot at the other end with 1:09 remaining, but Washington sealed the victory with six free throws in the final 29 seconds.

The Clippers trailed by 15 points early in the third quarter before Murray’s layup capped an 12-4 spurt with 6:13 left in the period and pulled the Clippers to 66-73.

Cheaney topped his previous season high before halftime and made six consecutive field goals during a 31-8 second-quarter burst by the Wizards, who forced five turnovers in a four-minute span and turned an 11-point deficit into a 48-60 lead with 1:32 left in the half.

Strickland, coming off his third career triple-double on Tuesday night at Golden State, had 14 points and nine assists in the half.

One night after scoring a career-high 50 points against Golden State in his first start of the season, Tracy Murray scored 18 for the Wizards.

He missed five of his first eight shots from the field as the Wizards fell behind 30-19 in the first nine minutes. But they took their first lead, 45-44, on an 11-footer by Cheaney with 5:04 left in the second quarter and never trailed again.

Wallace, Washington’s second-year forward, took a nasty spill under the boards when Wright fouled him on an unsuccessful dunk attempt. Wallace was forced to shoot two free throws--both of which he missed badly--before going to the bench temporarily.

The Clippers are now 0-8 at home against Eastern Conference opponents and 1-19 altogether. Their only victory was at New Jersey on Jan. 15.

One bright spot for the Clippers was their bench. Clippers reserves scored 17 points, including nine by Barry, while the Wizards got only 12 points from their bench.

Rookie Maurice Taylor, who missed the Clippers’ previous game because of tendinitis in his right knee, had two points in nine minutes and a sensational block against Tracy Murray.