Clippers Run Out of Fuel and Lose

Rocket forward Charles Barkley, who is never at a loss for words, took a more subtle approach when he spoke to his teammates at halftime Thursday night with the Rockets trailing the winless Clippers by a point.

“I told them that we have to stop trying so hard,” he said. “It was like someone told us that we had to blow the Clippers out because they hadn’t won a game.”

The message was heard loud and clear. After giving the Clippers a slight gleam of hope in the first half, Houston outscored them, 32-11, in the third quarter and then cruised to a 96-77 victory before a sellout crowd of 16,285 at the Compaq Center.

The Clippers are 0-14 and closing fast on their franchise record of 16 in a row to start a season and three from Miami’s NBA record of 17. For Houston, the victory ended a three-game losing streak and, at least for now, stopped talk about problems with the Rockets.

“Sometimes when you’re playing a team that you’re better than, you think you shouldn’t have a problem,” said Barkley, who led Houston with 21 points and 12 rebounds in his third game since returning off the injured list. “But it’s not that easy. There are NBA players out there on the other team.”

When Houston took the floor to start the game, the Rockets were led by veteran NBA all-stars Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon and Barkley. The Clippers countered with a group that included Charles Smith and Tyrone Nesby, two players making their first NBA starts.

Coach Chris Ford had said that he would start players who gave the team energy and Smith and Nesby provided that early in the game.

After falling behind by six points, the new-look Clippers jumped all over Houston with the aggressive style of play Ford has been pleading for since the start of training camp.

The Clippers scored nine consecutive points to take a 16-13 lead, with Smith scoring five of his team-high 16. The Clippers led at halftime, 45-44, only the second time they have held an advantage at the break, thanks to a couple of easy baskets created by their defense.

This was evident when tough defense by Nesby and Smith helped force Barkley into a bad shot late in the first quarter.

Sherman Douglas ended up with the ball and pushed it up the floor before passing to Smith, who made a nice assist to Maurice Taylor, who finished the play with a dunk.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, offensive possessions turned into one forced perimeter shot after another in the second half. Houston, which tied a franchise record with only 10 personal fouls, pressured the Clippers and they folded like they have all season when things get tough.

“Psychologically, it was like the bottom fell out and we were still in the game, there was no reason for them to allow what happened,” said Ford, who plans to stay with the same starting lineup for Saturday’s game at San Antonio.

“These guys are fragile. . . . They let things affect them too much. We played really hard in the first half. . . . We were really scratching and clawing. It wasn’t pretty, but we were making things happen.”

In the first half, the Clippers held a 22-21 rebounding edge over the Rockets, with Lorenzen Wright grabbing 11. But in the second half, Houston dominated the boards, 23-11, creating more opportunities for the Rockets to run.

Rookie guards Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobley benefited the most from the up-tempo as they scored 20 and 13 points respectively.

Olajuwon had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Pippen had a solid game with nine assists, seven rebounds and six points in a game-high 41 minutes.

“Everybody was complementing each other . . . playing hard, trying to win,” said Wright, who had only two rebounds in the final two quarters. “Then we went out in the second half, they made a couple of lucky shots and we got down on ourselves.

“We have to learn how to get through those bumpy times and continue to play.

“All these teams are not beating us, we’re beating ourselves most of the time. We have to learn how to put a game together and win.”