Clippers Just Feel Heat in the End

If the Clippers feel a little beat up today, there’s a good reason why.

The Clippers dropped to 4-13 with a 99-91 defeat to Miami Monday night, but the loss should not have been a surprise.

Out of the 17 games the Clippers have played this season, 14 have been against teams with .500 records or better, including the Heat (13-4), which has the best mark in the Eastern Conference.

Out of the Clippers’ 13 losses, 11 have come against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season.

Alonzo Mourning had 25 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots, and undrafted rookie Anthony Carter, who filled in for injured starting point guard Tim Hardaway, had 20 points and five assists to lead Miami, which handed the Clippers their sixth consecutive defeat before 10,194 at Staples Center.

“We’ve been playing well at times, but it’s a 48-minute game,” said Derek Anderson, who made his first start this season at point guard and finished with his first career triple-double: 16 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. “But until you finish a game . . . that’s when we’ll start winning some games.”

In the fourth quarter, the Clippers could not contain Jamal Mashburn, who scored eight of his 20 points, and Carter, who also scored eight, and they had no answer for Mourning, who had three blocks.

“We just kept playing solid basketball,” said Miami Coach Pat Riley, who was pleased with the effort from Carter, a Continental Basketball Assn. player last season.

“The game we saw from A.C. [Carter] was what we saw from him in summer league and training camp. In a starting role, the stakes are up a little but I just wanted him to get off to a good start and he did that.”

The Clippers gave it their best shot against the Heat, outrebounding Miami, 47-41, and coming up with a season-high 22 assists.

And Coach Chris Ford lived up to his word of making changes in his rotation. Not only did Anderson start at a different position but Ford also inserted Eric Piatkowski at shooting guard, moving point guards Troy Hudson and Eric Murdock to the bench.

Anderson, who played point guard throughout high school and some in college at Kentucky, got the Clippers off to one of their best all-around starts of the season, taking a 31-25 first quarter lead over the Heat, which had not played since suffering a 12-point loss at Boston on Saturday.

Because Anderson was willing to penetrate, find open shots for his teammates and still score, he had the Clippers playing unselfish basketball. He ended up with 10 points and four assists in the first quarter, when even reserve Keith Closs contributed, coming up with two blocked shots in four minutes of action.

Part of the Clippers’ early success also could be credited to their defense. Opting to play the Heat without double-teaming Mourning every time he had the ball, the Clippers were effective playing one-on-one defense.

But Mourning, who had 13 points and five rebounds in the first quarter, watched his teammates get going in the second. Clarence Weatherspoon came off the bench to score his only eight points of the game in the period and Dan Majerle made a three-point basket at the buzzer to give the Heat a 46-44 lead at halftime.

The Heat tried to break open a tight game in the third quarter and even took a 10-point lead at 66-56 halfway into the period. But the Clippers refused to quit and behind Lamar Odom’s nine points in the quarter, Miami only led, 72-66, at the start of the fourth.

That was a close as the Clippers would get. The Heat scored six points in 78 seconds to open up a 12-point lead and then muscled the Clippers behind Mourning down the stretch to defeat the Clippers for the sixth consecutive time.

Odom led the Clippers with 20 points and seven rebounds, and Maurice Taylor added 17 points, nine rebounds and had eight turnovers.