Clippers Still Winless, but Not Hopeless

If wins were based on effort and resiliency instead of points, the Clippers would not be linked today with Denver as the only NBA teams looking for a victory.

The Clippers came to play Saturday night and pushed Phoenix to the limit, but it wasn’t enough as the Suns squeaked out a 107-104 overtime victory before a sellout crowd of 19,023 at America West Arena.

The defeat was the fourth of the young season for the Clippers, who rallied from a nine-point deficit late in the fourth quarter and then came back from seven points in overtime only to fall short to the Suns, who defeated the Clippers in the season opener by nine points at the Sports Arena.

“We just have to stop making so many mental errors down the stretch, we also have to have better shot selection,” said forward Maurice Taylor, who carried the Clippers inside with a season-high 25 points on 10 of 18 shooting.

“We have to keep doing the things that we were doing when we came back. . . . We just can’t tie [the score] up. We have to keep doing the things that got us there.”

Rex Chapman went from goat to hero for Phoenix. After sitting out the start of the season because of a sore hamstring, Chapman’s shot has not been on and he made only seven of 22, including two of eight three-point attempts, against the Clippers.

Chapman, however, was the key man for the Suns at the finish as he scored 14 of the team’s final 16 points and ended up with 23 in the game.

“Rex wants so much to help this team, he’s thinking too much,” Phoenix Coach Danny Ainge said. “Everybody is kind of getting down on him but I have a lot of confidence in him.”

That showed against the Clippers, who were glad to see Chapman shooting so much. With Michael Olowokandi and Taylor in the starting lineup together for the first time, the Clippers played Phoenix even in the first quarter as Chapman helped keep Tom Gugliotta--who had 24 points and 17 rebounds in the first game against the Clippers--scoreless for much of the first quarter.

With Lamond Murray and Taylor doing most of the scoring, the Clippers led, 45-44, at halftime. They even led, 69-68, after three quarters before things began falling apart.

The same problem that plagued the Clippers in their first three losses came back to haunt them in the fourth quarter against Phoenix. Turnovers, bad shots and poor defensive rotation helped the Suns jump to a 91-82 lead with 3:30 remaining in regulation.

Murray, who finished with a game-high 26 points, and James Robinson, who had 15 off the bench, teamed with Taylor to lead the Clippers back. With 1:07 left, the Clippers trailed, 93-90. Taylor made a basket and then had a chance to put his team ahead with 11.3 seconds remaining but he missed the second of two free throws.

Taylor made up for the miss on the defensive end when he blocked a last-second layup by the Suns’ Cliff Robinson to force overtime.

Chapman took over for the Suns in overtime by making two of three field goals and seven of nine free throws. Phoenix needed every point because the Clippers remained close until the final seconds when Jason Kidd, who had 14 points and 16 assists, stole an inbounds pass by Taylor to end the game.

Cliff Robinson had 23 points off the bench and Gugliotta finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns. James Robinson had 15 for the Clippers, who had only three players score in double figures.

“We hung tough throughout the whole game,” Clipper Coach Chris Ford said. “We were able to make the comeback at the end of the fourth quarter, we fell behind in the overtime and we made another surge. It’s just the little things right now, the turnovers and we’re not getting the shot selection we want. Those are little things that can be corrected, but they go a long way to getting you a win.”

The Clippers will try again tonight when they play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Sports Arena.