Clippers Lose Their Touch Against Kings

The Clippers and charmed rarely make it into the same sentence, and Wednesday night was no different. They had a rare opportunity to extend a winning streak to three games but never came close in a 98-78 loss to the Kings at Arco Arena.

The Clippers missed 18 of 24 shots in the second quarter and were outscored, 28-14, in that period to fall behind by 22 points at halftime. Sacramento never let its lead slip below 18 after that.

Chris Webber led the Kings with 25 points and eight rebounds and Vlade Divac, despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter with the game well under control, scored 12 points and had 15 rebounds.

“It was the Clippers, we can’t be too happy about this, it’s a team we’re supposed to beat,” Webber said. “We won’t be seeing the Clippers in the playoffs.”

The victory was the Kings’ fifth in their last seven games.

Clipper rookie Lamar Odom turned in his third triple-double of the season, getting 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Michael Olowokandi had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Clippers, who have lost 31 of their last 36 games.

“We just didn’t play as a team from the very beginning, and they kind of set the tone like they usually do. You have got to come to play against them,” Odom said. “It was was one of those games we didn’t come to play early and we paid for it.”

The Clippers’ long-range shooting was particularly off at Sacramento, where they missed their first eight three-point shots and finished three for 17 from behind the arc. Their overall 35.2% shooting was a turnaround from Tuesday night’s victory over Denver, when they made 52.6% of their shots overall and were nine for 16 from three-point range.

Eric Piatkowski, who had 31 points Tuesday, scored only two against the Kings on one-for-seven shooting.

Ahead by four points midway through the second quarter, Sacramento outscored the Clippers, 22-4, over the final 6:21, assuming a 55-33 lead by halftime.

“It didn’t feel like we were in the game at all; once halftime came it felt like it was over,” Clipper Coach Jim Todd said.

Webber had 12 of his 17 first-half points in the second quarter. Divac had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the opening half. Tony Delk scored eight second-quarter points off the bench.

Webber scored eight points in the third quarter, including consecutive dunks as Sacramento built the lead to 24 at one stretch and was ahead, 74-54, heading into the fourth period.

Ahead by 20 points, the Kings opened the fourth quarter with six consecutive points. Jon Barry made a three-point shot, giving the Kings an 80-54 lead with 10:20 remaining.

Predrag Stojakovic made two three-point shots and scored 17 points.

“This was a really solid effort for us. We needed to come out and get a win tonight,” King Coach Rick Adelman said. “I thought we did what we had to do to get this win.”