Clippers Work Longer but Still Manage to Lose

The Clippers did many of the little things Tuesday night that they’ve been failing to do all season. They made timely defensive stands and they had enough big shots and rebounds to walk away with their first victory of the season.

But these are the Clippers, who so far can not shake their losing ways. Despite a monster game from Maurice Taylor, who had 21 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, the Clippers still lost in double overtime to the Vancouver Grizzlies, 93-89, before a crowd of 9,626 at the Arrowhead Pond.

The Clippers remain the NBA’s only winless team at 0-6.

“We get off to a horrendous start and the guys regrouped . . . fought their way back and kept on fighting our way back all night long,” Clipper Coach Chris Ford said. “We played very good defense, I would say from after that initial start . . . We get 60 rebounds, we hold them to 39% shooting. We had a lot of open looks but the ball didn’t fall for us. The real dagger in the heart was that were were 16 of 32 from the foul line.

“We have to fight through this. We have to find a way to make it happen. . . . The guys certainly busted their butts out there. They kept on making a great play, either on the defensive end or when [Lamond] Murray made that great three at the end. You really feel for the guys because you know how much they wanted and what they put into it. They have to bounce back and continue to play.”

With Murray guarding him most of the time, Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 35 points in the Grizzlies’ win at Vancouver last week. Tuesday night, Murray began the game on Abdur-Rahim, but was moved to shooting guard with Rodney Rogers or Taylor assigned to cover the high-scoring small forward for key stretches of the game.

Abdur-Rahim did not do as well against the more physical Rogers and Taylor, who banged the slender Grizzly as often as possible. Abdur-Rahim finished with seven-of-26 shooting from the floor for 20 points.

Vancouver’s key player down the stretch was rookie point guard Mike Bibby, who played with his father, USC Coach Henry Bibby, sitting courtside.

Bibby finished with 17 points and five assists, and made a key steal and grabbed an important rebound in the second overtime to help the Grizzlies improve to 3-3.

The Clippers, who lost by 22 points to Minnesota on Sunday, came out sluggish against Vancouver. In taking a 13-0 lead, the Grizzlies had an easy time against the Clippers’ soft early game defense.

Michael Olowokandi, who started his third consecutive game and had 10 points and 15 rebounds, scored the Clippers’ first points with a hook shot 4:16 into the first period.

Vancouver stretched its lead to 22-6 before the Clippers decided to play. Lorenzen Wright replaced Olowokandi in the lineup and jump-started a major comeback with 11 consecutive points that extended from the end of the first quarter to early in the the second.

By the time the Clippers finished their 13-0 run, they trailed only, 23-21. The rest of the half, the Clippers stayed close but Vancouver still led, 42-39, at the break.

The Grizzlies controlled most of the third quarter and opened up a 68-57 lead early in the fourth before the Clippers made their second big rally. With Darrick Martin in the game for Sherman Douglas, who strained his left groin in the first half, the Clippers began to trim the Grizzlies’ lead.

Martin scored seven points in the fourth quarter and made the key passes to help the Clippers take a 73-70 lead with less than three minutes left in regulation.

The Clippers, however, were unable to hold on to the lead as Vancouver center Bryant Reeves, who had seven of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, helped bring the Grizzlies even. The game went into overtime when Murray and Taylor exchanged baskets with Vancouver’s Bibby and Doug West.

In the first overtime, Abdur-Rahim scored five points and helped give Vancouver an 85-82 lead in the final minute. But the Clippers responded with a three-point basket by Murray, who struggled in making five of 23 shots for 12 points.

Vancouver started strong in the second overtime when Sam Mack, who led the Grizzlies with 22 points, stole a cross-court pass by Taylor for a fastbreak dunk. The Clippers then missed four free throws and trailed, 90-87, with 51 seconds left. They never got closer.