Clippers Still Suffering Ills of Their Selfish Play

It’s a disease no Clipper seems able to avoid. It usually comes in the second half of games and it is especially virulent in the fourth quarter.

It usually starts with a simple play. A forced shot here, a bad pass there. Then it gets out of control and Coach Chris Ford doesn’t have a clue how to stop it.

Selfish play.

After playing the San Antonio Spurs to a standstill for nearly three quarters, the Clippers came down with the same symptoms that have plagued them all season, and they were unable to recover.

Tim Duncan and David Robinson combined for 46 points and 26 rebounds and the Spurs held the Clippers to 32 second-half points to win going away, 105-82, Tuesday night before 14,800 at Alamodome.

The defeat was the ninth in a row for the Clippers, who have won only once in their last 14 games.

“It’s kind of crazy because we’ll move the ball around and be in the game, and then all of a sudden we go back to one-on-one,” swingman Tyrone Nesby said.

“Once we do that, the next thing you know we’re down 15 points. It happens to us in a blink of the eye.”

Against a team like San Antonio, which won last season’s NBA title, the Clippers had no chance with that style of play.

They were at their worst during three consecutive fourth-quarter possessions. Rookie forward Lamar Odom grabbed a defensive rebound and drove the length of the court, only to miss a running bank shot; shooting guard Derek Anderson, playing the point, missed an open 20-foot jumper with 15 seconds left on the 24-second shot clock; and center Michael Olowokandi finished the wretched run with a forced jump hook from the baseline that hit nothing but air.

“We play well for stretches, then we get to the point where we may commit a turnover or someone takes a bad shot or forces the issue on the offensive end of the court, and then it just snowballs,” Ford said.

“We don’t have a Tim Duncan who you can go into and count on time after time after time. We have to rely on all five guys doing what they are supposed to be doing on the offensive end, executing and not forcing the issue.”

The Clippers played tough in the first half and trailed only 54-50, but the Spurs produced a dominant effort over the final two quarters.

“The third quarter has been a key for us,” said Robinson, who had 22 points on seven-of-12 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds. “Last year, we played well in the third quarter. After halftime, it’s good to come out and make a run to set the tone.”

Setting the tone is something the Clippers have rarely done in the second half this season. Against the Spurs, they surely didn’t do that, missing 28 of 42 shots.

After San Antonio extended its lead to 60-50 in the first two minutes of the third quarter, the Clippers stepped up with an 8-0 run. But the Spurs answered with their own rally by showing patience at the offensive end.

Repeatedly making the extra pass, San Antonio outscored the Clippers, 12-4, to close the quarter. The Clippers continued their selfish play in the fourth quarter and made it easy for the Spurs to defeat them for the ninth time in a row.

“I can see it coming,” Ford said of the Clippers’ individual-oriented play. “I try to call timeout and bring them in. . . . I get on their case about it and then it is resolved maybe for a minute or two. But after that, it sneaks up again. It’s not just one individual.”