Clippers Experience a Loss to Spurs

The Clippers gained another learning experience Wednesday night by taking the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs to the limit at Staples Center.

Playing their most complete game of the young season, the Clippers lost, 99-94, despite 28 points and seven rebounds from Derek Anderson.

“We played very well tonight,” said Clipper Coach Chris Ford, whose team dropped to 1-4. “We had great effort. Great intensity throughout the game. We just couldn’t knock down our shots. D.A. [Anderson] was the only one who was really keeping us in there for a while.”

The Spurs may be better than they were last season and the Clippers battled them basket for basket, block for block and rebound for rebound almost the entire game.

The difference was San Antonio’s ability to make plays down the stretch.

After trailing by one point at the start of the fourth, the Clippers stayed close behind Maurice Taylor, who scored seven of his 18 points in the quarter.

The turning point came with two minutes remaining and San Antonio ahead, 90-87. Veteran guard Terry Porter, signed during the off-season as a free agent, scored six consecutive points for the Spurs.

The Clippers went three possessions without a score when Tyrone Nesby, who had a poor shooting night, missed a difficult dunk, picked up a questionable charging foul and missed a left-hand layup in traffic.

“It was one of those nights,” said Nesby, who scored six points but missed 10 of 11 shots. “Nothing would fall for me and the refs weren’t helping.”

In the end, it was too much Tim Duncan, who led the Spurs with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaren Jackson, who had eight points in the fourth.

“Duncan is an MVP playing on a championship team,” Ford said. “You expect him to step up.”

San Antonio, which lost its only game at Phoenix on Sunday, was playing the final game of a three-game trip.

After crushing Golden State by 29 points Tuesday, the Spurs were looking for their seventh consecutive victory over the Clippers. The last time the Clippers defeated San Antonio was Dec. 4, 1997.

The Clippers, who lost by 15 to Utah on Monday, rode Taylor’s scoring early to keep pace with the Spurs.

Taylor, who entered the game shooting 44.8%, scored the Clippers’ first five points and they led, 9-5, four minutes into the game.

Then, as if they imagined seeing themselves playing an embarrassing role on highlight shows, the Spurs rolled to a 14-2 run. Duncan was the main man during the rally with seven points.

San Antonio built a 12-point lead and led, 30-20, at the start of the second quarter. But a good sign for the Clippers was the play of center Michael Olowokandi, who scored his first basket to end the first.

Olowokandi became more active and his hard work on the boards seemed to inspire the Clippers, who played most of the second without Taylor, who picked up his third foul 15 seconds into the quarter.

With Olowokandi getting six points and five rebounds, the Clippers had a run of their own and took a 39-38 lead after a two-hand dunk from the baseline by Brian Skinner, who came off the bench with nine points in the quarter.

“[I was] trying to be strong in the post and bang with them,” said Olowokandi, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. “Whenever you’re going to play the defending champions, there’s going to be a lot of energy. We played well but they just came out on top.”

The Clippers stayed close the rest of the half but San Antonio still led, 51-46, thanks to 19 combined points from role players Samaki Walker, Chucky Brown and Malik Rose.

After playing San Antonio tough for a half, the Clippers seemed to put themselves in a deep hole early in the third quarter when Taylor was called for his fourth foul and was followed to the bench by Lamar Odom, who picked up his fifth.

The Clippers, however, refused to fold and Anderson made sure of that despite playing with four fouls.

Anderson had the hot touch and scored 12 points in the third and Skinner played solid defense on Duncan to help the Clippers close to within one, 74-73, to set the stage for the fourth quarter.

“I think we proved to ourselves that we can play with anybody,” said Odom, who had 16 points and seven rebounds. “Hopefully, every night we’ll come out and play like we’re playing the San Antonio Spurs.”

Said Spur Coach Gregg Popovich: “They deserved to win the game as much as we did. Experience showed in the end.”