Clippers Take It to Wire, but Outcome Is the Same

Rookie Lamar Odom sat on the Madison Square Garden court about five yards away from the Clipper bench and glanced at the scoreboard with a familiar look of disgust.

It was near the end of the third quarter and the New York Knicks led by 21 points. Odom was not in the lineup after picking up a technical foul.

In previous games, the Clippers would have turned the fourth quarter into an out-of-control pick-up game. But not Monday afternoon with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dennis Johnson sitting on the Clipper bench.

Thanks to some inspiration from the team’s newest coaches, Odom helped lead the Clippers back to make a game of it, cutting the Knick lead to four points before losing, 87-76, in front of a sellout crowd of 19,763.

“It’s motivation when you’re playing a game and you look over to the side and see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dennis Johnson,” said Odom, who finished with 14 points and seven assists in his New York homecoming. “You can’t help but to get motivated and play your best. “

So far, Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson have not seen any wins from their new team. The Clippers haven’t won much since Christmas, losing 11 games in a row and 25 of their last 27.

“We have to change the way we do things,” Abdul-Jabbar said after watching the Clippers lose for the second time since he became an assistant. “It’s going to take some time because the guys are not working as a unit, they were not able to achieve that cohesion that you need to be able to win in this league. That is what we are working on, we are seeing parts of it.”

What interim Coach Jim Todd and his staff saw in the first quarter against the Knicks is something they probably hope to not see again.

New York led 23-12 after 12 minutes, but the score didn’t tell the whole story. The Clippers had 10 turnovers in the quarter and only one assist. They missed eight of 13 shots, most from the perimeter.

For the next two quarters, the Clippers dug themselves into a deeper hole. New York led, 72-52, halfway into the fourth quarter when the Clippers finally began to play. Shots they were missing started to find the net and the Knicks, who have lost their share of big leads this season, started to get worried.

“They started to make things tough for us,” Knick guard Latrell Sprewell said. “We had a good start and then we let them back in it. . . . they never stopped competing.”

With Tyrone Nesby and Troy Hudson combining for 12 points in the quarter, the Clippers found themselves down, 78-74, with 2:25 left.

“Having [Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson] on the bench helped a lot because we all know they’ve been there,” said Nesby, who finished with 10 points. “It’s always easier to listen to people who have been there.

“At one point I went to Kareem and asked him about my shot. He told me it looked good and then in the fourth quarter, pop, pop, I make two three-pointers.”

But the Clipper comeback fell short because of two key plays down the stretch by New York’s veteran center, Patrick Ewing.

Ewing, who earlier in the game became the NBA’s 16th all-time leading scorer (passing Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor), made a tough basket over Brian Skinner to give the Knicks an 80-74 lead with 2:07 remaining and nearly a minute later, he blocked a layup attempt by Maurice Taylor with New York ahead by five points.

Sprewell, who finished with 16 points and a career-high nine assists, sealed New York’s win with four free throws in the final minute.

The defeat was the ninth in a row for Todd since taking over for Chris Ford. With two more games remaining on their longest trip of the season, Todd said he is seeing improvement.

“We have only had three or four practices since we took over but with every practice I think we have gotten a little better and put in more effort,” Todd said. “We just have to keep our heads up and the players have been doing that.”