Still No Wind in Clipper Sails

A 24-point victory over the Clippers wasn’t enough to satisfy Phoenix Coach Scott Skiles.

After Friday night’s 112-88 victory, the Clippers’ 15th consecutive loss, Skiles said his team’s recent efforts are short of what they will need in the playoffs.

“I was grateful that the bench guys got a lot of minutes, but I’m still not satisfied the way we’ve played any of the last three games really,” Skiles said. “We need a better effort all the way around, more of an effort like we had against Sacramento four games ago.”

Despite Skiles’ concerns, the Suns have won four in a row, two of them against the Clippers, and have a two-game lead over San Antonio with three to play in the race for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Rodney Rogers scored 22, Shawn Marion 20 and Cliff Robinson 17 for the Suns, who outscored the Clippers by an average of 104-81 in their four-game sweep of the season series.

“It’s the same old story all year long,” Eric Piatkowski of the Clippers said. “Our defensive transition is terrible.”

Tyrone Nesby scored 21 points for the Clippers, but only two in the second half. Michael Olowokandi had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Lamar Odom added 14 points.

Rogers said it’s difficult to get motivated for the Clippers, a team he played for the previous four seasons.

“I mean, you can’t underestimate them, but you’ve just got to go out and play,” Rogers said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get up for those games but you’ve got to find a way to do it. The coach is not satisfied with what happened tonight, but we got the win.”

The Clippers have lost 10 in a row to Phoenix and have the league’s worst road record at 4-36.

Interim Coach Jim Todd said the Clippers missed Maurice Taylor and Derek Anderson, both out because of injury.

“We didn’t know where we were going to manufacture points,” Todd said. “We were a little short-handed to say the least.”