Silent Treatment Doesn’t Work for the Clippers

It was early in the second half and the Clippers were just rolling along.

Even though they appeared to be going through the motions, the Clippers held a seven-point lead over the Vancouver Grizzlies and their six-week road losing streak seemed ready to end.

Then suddenly, the Clippers’ lack of intensity caught up with them. Over an 8:20 span, they didn’t score as the Grizzlies ran off 21 consecutive points en route to an 86-78 victory Wednesday night before 11,312 at GM Place.

“You could see we weren’t focused in on the first three plays of the game,” Coach Alvin Gentry said of the Clippers, who allowed Vancouver to take an 8-0 lead at the outset.

“To me, if you want to know what is symptomatic of a young team, it is when we start reading headlines and seeing stuff saying how good we are and what we’re doing. That’s our problem. That’s why we weren’t focused in.”

The Clippers’ scoring drought was as ugly as it sounds. They misfired on 12 field-goal attempts in a row and turned the ball over five times. They also didn’t play defense well. The Grizzlies made nine baskets during their run and outrebounded the Clippers, 13-6, in the third quarter to take a 63-51 lead into the fourth.

It was too much of a deficit for the Clippers, who rallied in the fourth quarter but fell short in losing their eighth consecutive road game. The Clippers’ last road victory was Feb. 22 when they defeated the Chicago Bulls, 93-80.

“We just had a bad game,” Clipper point guard Jeff McInnis said. “We didn’t have the energy tonight . . . But it’s like because we won a couple of games and I guess people have started thinking we won’t lose any more. We have to go back to practice and just keep working hard.”

At the start of the season, the Clippers and Vancouver were considered teams on the rise, but the Grizzlies have had their troubles. They came into Wednesday’s game having won once in their previous 11 games and their fan support has dropped considerably since owner Michael Heisley announced his intention to move the team out of Canada after the season.

“We came here a little overconfident,” said Corey Maggette, who had 15 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench for the Clippers. “I don’t think we were ready. Coach [Gentry] told us we weren’t ready in practice on Tuesday. It took us 20 minutes to get going and we did the same thing in tonight’s game.”

The Grizzlies were led by Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s 24 points and former Clipper Tony Massenburg’s 14 points and 11 rebounds.

“We had several guys play well,” said Vancouver Coach Sidney Lowe, whose team tied a franchise single-season record with its 22nd victory. “I thought [Massenburg] was big for us inside, getting rebounds and scoring for us late in the game.”

Vancouver, however, had to withstand a late rally by the Clippers, who cut the Grizzlies’ lead to four points three times in the fourth quarter but could never get closer.

“We didn’t come out in the first half, that’s why we lost,” said Lamar Odom, who came close to registering another triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. “You just can’t turn it off and on. We have to play with a little more consistency.”