Gentry Is Pleased Despite Loss

Another day, another learning experience for the Clippers.

One night after winning their exhibition season opener at Phoenix, the Clippers dropped to 1-1 when they lost, 92-84, to the Portland Trail Blazers at The Rose Garden on Thursday.

With Coach Alvin Gentry spending most of the game looking at different player combinations, the Clippers led early but were caught down the stretch by Portland, which was led by Rasheed Wallace’s 21 points and Shawn Kemp’s 17.

“I still feel like we have a lot of work to do but we are making improvements,” Gentry said. “The key for us is to be ready when Oct. 31 rolls around [the regular-season opener at Utah].”

After scoring 10 points in the Clipper victory over the Suns on Wednesday, rookie Darius Miles scored 19 against Portland. Miles had a strong first half with 17 points and three rebounds in only 15 minutes.

“The big thing about Darius is that he’s stepping on the floor with a lot of confidence,” Gentry said. “The first time he walked out there, he felt like he belonged. . . . He’s a real special player.”

The Clippers led, 56-53, at halftime and took their biggest lead at 71-63 late in the third quarter before Portland rallied.

Center Michael Olowokandi, who had an impressive first quarter and then struggled some at Phoenix, impressed Gentry with a strong fourth quarter against Portland.

“Michael got into foul trouble early but he came back strong,” Gentry said. “You can’t look at the stat sheet to see what Michael does for our team. He’s doing the little things that gives us a chance to win.”

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Gentry juggled his starting lineup a little for Thursday’s game.

Against the Suns, the Clippers started Jeff McInnis, Brian Skinner, Corey Maggette, Lamar Odom and Olowokandi, who have only nine combined years of NBA experience.

Against Portland, Gentry moved third-year swingman Tyrone Nesby into the starting lineup at shooting guard in place of Maggette and Derek Strong at power forward in place of Skinner, raising the Clippers’ starting unit to 19 years of experience.

Gentry understands that the Clippers’ inexperience will be an issue every game.

“We’ll give the effort and we’ll play extremely hard but I just know that experience plays a big key in [the NBA],” Gentry said.

“If we can stay in games and win some close ones and get confidence, that would help tremendously but over the long haul, when you are trying to build a team with young kids, it takes a little while to do.”

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Rookie point guard Keyon Dooling sat out his second consecutive game because of a strained ligament in his big right toe.