Clippers Depleted but Not Defeated

Maybe the Clippers should play short-handed the rest of the season.

With only nine players in uniform and Coach Chris Ford at home because of back spasms, the Clippers put together another unlikely effort Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors.

With assistant Jim Todd taking over for Ford, the Clippers defeated Golden State, 103-99, before 10,438 at The Arena in Oakland.

“J.T. just let us go out there and play and that’s what we needed,” said swingman Tyrone Nesby, who led the Clippers with 28 points and nine rebounds.

“We almost lost the game but at the same time, we didn’t lose the game. . . . We played hard defense at the end of the game, we made them take one of those crazy shots and we won the game.”

In defeating the Warriors for the second time within a week, the Clippers received inspired efforts from those who played, prompted somewhat by a pregame talk from Elgin Baylor, vice president of basketball operations.

“I just told them that it was an opportunity,” Baylor said. “For them to go in there and play hard as you can. With nine players, everyone was going to play. . . . They knew if they played well, they were going to get their minutes.”

Rookie Lamar Odom continued to be more assertive as a leader and he came through with a big game, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and seven blocked shots. It was his fifth double-double of the season.

“It was a little different coaching style but a lot of things added to that,” Odom said. “The lack of people we had today. Maurice [Taylor] is not here. D.A. [Derek Anderson] is not here. The system we usually run, I don’t think would have worked today. Everybody was loose and everyone didn’t even think about the sideline. We just went out and played.”

Ford, who hopes to return tonight when the Clippers play Sacramento at Staples Center, had not missed a game since taking over the team last season. For 74 games, Todd was Ford’s right-hand man but Wednesday night, it was Todd’s show.

With only nine players available, including three averaging seven minutes or less this season, Todd knew it wouldn’t be easy.

The Clippers opened with their 10th different starting lineup this season. Troy Hudson and Eric Piatkowski started in the backcourt with Odom and Nesby in the frontcourt and Michael Olowokandi in the middle.

When Golden State lost by a point to the Clippers last week, they were missing five regulars because of injuries. Two injured Warriors were back in uniform on Wednesday with forward Antawn Jamison returning from a hip flexor injury and center Adonal Foyle playing in his second game after missing two games because of a strained right foot.

The Clippers, whose point total was a season-high, led for most of the game and received a major boost from their three-point shooting. After struggling from the perimeter much of the season, the Clippers made nine three-point shots in 29 attempts.

“Whenever you are allowed to play your game and you have no other worries, you are going to go out, communicate, scramble and play hard,” said Hudson, who made only one of 10 shots from the field but made a key three-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

Todd, who spent nine seasons as head coach at Salem State, a Division III college in Massachusetts, took his first NBA win in stride, giving credit to everyone.

“We played hard, we played well,” Todd said. “We were undermanned, one of those things where maybe we aren’t the team that is supposed to win. We stayed together, weathered the storm and pulled it out in the end. . . . We didn’t break.”

John Starks was the Warriors’ leading scorer with 22 points.

Among the other Clippers who had big games were Piatkowski and Keith Closs Jr.

Piatkowski picked a great time to break out of a shooting slump with 22 points, including four three-pointers. Closs, who has spent most of the season on the bench, played a season-high 20 minutes and had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

“All the guys wanted this game so we went out and got it,” Odom said.

“All the guys wanted this one for [Todd].”