Clippers’ Loss Is Too Familiar

Once the Clippers figure out that no matter how well they play, the key to the NBA is to win games . . . they may become dangerous.

But until then, the Clippers will keep getting reminded that they still are a long way from there.

The Dallas Mavericks were the latest team to drive home this point Thursday night, defeating the Clippers for the ninth consecutive time, 105-96, before 14,260 at Reunion Arena.

In falling to a 10-20 record, the Clippers followed one of their two familiar patterns for defeat. Unlike their one-point loss at Denver on Tuesday, when they blew a comfortable fourth-quarter lead before losing on a last-second, three-point play, the Clippers went through the motions for three quarters against Dallas before making a run in the final quarter.

With his starters combining for only 32 points (Lamar Odom scored a team-high 21 by himself), Coach Alvin Gentry turned to his bench. Rookies Darius Miles and Keyon Dooling along with Corey Maggette, Eric Piatkowski and seldom-used big man Cherokee Parks, were able to cut a 22-point deficit to six with four minutes left.

However, the Mavericks, who have not lost to the Clippers in Dallas since Dec. 9, 1997, didn’t fold and rode the scoring of Michael Finley (25 points and seven rebounds) and Christian Laettner (five of his seven points in the fourth) to improve to 20-11.

“I thought we did a good job keeping our focus,” Dallas Coach Don Nelson said. “I just think it was a change in tempo . . . Everyone wanted to be patient and spread out but we didn’t attack. We settled for outside shots.”

For the Clippers, it was another case of too little, too late.

“We just didn’t play hard in the first half,” said Miles, who had a strong game with 18 points and 10 rebounds (both season highs) for the first double-double of his career.

“We just ran in [the fourth quarter]. Every time we got the ball, we just ran with it. Time is going to be the key. Give us a year.”

Dallas easily got open shots most of the night. And when that happens for the Mavericks, the fourth-highest scoring team in the league and the third-best three-point shooting team, you’re going to have trouble.

“They took the tempo away from us and that was it,” said Odom, who made eight of 12 field goals and also had six rebounds and five assists. “They controlled the game . . . We are a better team playing up-tempo but you can’t play a whole game like that. You have to be able to play [a halfcourt game and run].”

Guard Steve Nash had the hot touch early for Dallas, scoring 17 of his 20 points in the first half. Forward Dirk Nowitzki finished with 17 points and a season-high 15 rebounds but it was the contribution of 7-foot-6 center Shawn Bradley that helped doom the Clippers.

Bradley, who entered the game averaging 6.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and three blocked shots, had 14 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

“He really affects the game,” Gentry said. “He was as big of a factor as anyone at the start of the game. He just changes so many shots.”

For the first time in six games, the Clippers were outplayed in the opening quarter. Dallas jumped out early behind crisp passes and sharp perimeter shooting and thanks to a 15-2 run, led by 13 points heading into the second quarter.

The Mavericks stretched their lead to 15 at halftime and held an 86-64 lead after three quarters. That’s when Gentry turned loose his players defensively and the Clippers’ full-court trapping defense turned the game around.

“We tried to do it earlier but we weren’t getting to the free-throw line,” Gentry said of the Clippers’ pressure defensively. “We just decided to get into it anyway and extend it further because [of the score] at that stage of the game. Those five guys we had in there at the end did a great job.”

Over the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, the Clippers outscored Dallas, 28-12, with Maggette (11 of his 17 points) doing most of the damage. But unlike their dramatic comeback victory at Washington (when they rallied from a 21-point deficit), the Clippers came up short against the Mavericks.

“We were just trying to plug away and we didn’t want to get embarrassed,” Maggette said. “We were out there playing hard but they were making their shots.”