Todd Pulls Out All the Stops

Interim Coach Jim Todd has a master’s degree in education, and he is trying to teach a crash course in team defense to the Clippers.

“We’re just really trying to reemphasize and give them a defensive philosophy,” Todd said. “We’re trying to give them a defensive game plan we can stick to day in and day out and game in and game out.

“There are only a certain number of sets you can run in the NBA. What happens, you get ready for every game and you’ll tweak with it. We may say, ‘This is how we are going to guard the high pick-and-roll and this is how we’ll guard the side pick-and-roll.’ We’re trying to get one way to guard everything first and then have a countermove. . . . We’re not trying to change from game to game.”

Only five teams in the league are giving up more than the Clippers’ 101.9 points a game. Cutting this number will be important for the Clippers, who have held opponents under 93 points only seven times. Portland, tonight’s opponent, gives up only 88.6 points.

“We have to find one way, one common bond first and then I’ll think we’ll come around,” Todd said. “I think a lot of it will be attitude. Accountability, hustle and desire . . . that’s the bottom line of man-to-man defense. You have to accept it as a personal challenge.”

With consecutive games remaining before this weekend’s all-star break, Todd wants his players to keep it simple.

“Every day, we just have to try and get better,” he said about the Clippers, who will play Vancouver at Staples Center on Thursday.

“We have to continue to get better and to continue to find our niche, whatever that may be.”

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Point guard Eric Murdock, who suffered a left ankle sprain against Chicago on Sunday, did not make the trip to Portland and will be out until at least after the all-star break. Swingman Tyrone Nesby also missed the trip because of a cracked bone in his right big toe. Nesby is day to day.

TONIGHT

vs. Portland, 7, Channel 9

* Site--Rose Garden.

* Radio--KXTA (1150).

* Records--Clippers 11-36, Trail Blazers 37-11.

* Record vs. Trail Blazers--0-2.

* Update--The Clippers have lost four in a row and 18 of 20. They are 3-21 on the road, with their last victory away from Los Angeles being against Golden State on Dec. 22.