California - News from Feb. 14, 2001

Maybe the Clippers should petition the league to change its overtime rules to be more like the NHL’s. That way each team would gain something if they end regulation in a tie.

But the NBA doesn’t play that way. One team wins and the other loses. And for the Clippers, once overtime starts, another loss usually follows.

For the seventh time, the Clippers played well enough to deserve a victory but instead gave it up, losing, 101-99, to the Miami Heat on Anthony Mason’s basket with 0.8 of a second left Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 16,500 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“I just took a shower and it’s weird because I still feel like we won the game,” said Lamar Odom, who had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists. “It wasn’t bad calls but they had a couple go their way at the end that helped them and they also made some big shots. . . . We have to learn to make sure we’re in position where we determine the game.”

The Clippers, who dropped to 16-35 and lost in overtime to the Heat for the second time, suffered a one-point defeat at Golden State before the All-Star break. As in the loss to the Warriors, the Clippers had a few defensive breakdowns down the stretch that helped them lose the first of a seven-game trip.

Two in particular stand out.

With the score tied at 97 in overtime, Miami’s Tim Hardaway had the ball with less than nine seconds on the 24-second clock. Trapped in the left corner and defended by guard Quentin Richardson, Hardaway took his time before beating the Clipper rookie to the baseline and lofted a layup over a late-arriving Odom.

“I actually thought my help inside was still there,” Richardson said about Hardaway’s score with 14.7 seconds remaining. “That’s why I shaded him to the baseline, thinking we had a trap coming. I didn’t know it got cleared out.”

What Richardson didn’t understand was that Odom was his weakside help and he was reluctant to leave his man because he had been hurt several times for doing so. If it wasn’t Eddie Jones (22 points, including three three-point baskets) making a perimeter shot after Odom left to give defensive help, it was Bruce Bowen (13 points, including three second-half three-point baskets).

The Clippers’ second mistake was even more costly.

After two free throws by Odom tied the score at 99 with 6.6 seconds remaining, the Heat ran a two-man play with Hardaway and Mason.

Solid defense by Jeff McInnis forced Hardaway to pass to Mason, who had possession near the foul line and was defended by Cherokee Parks. Mason, who gained his first All-Star berth in his 12 seasons, started his drive to his right but then made a quick spin to get past Parks and made a difficult left-hand hook over Odom, who again arrived a split-second late.

“I was just making sure to move my feet and stay in front of [Mason],” said Parks, who had 12 points and six rebounds in his fourth consecutive start. “What I didn’t want was to foul and for him to win the game on the foul line. . . . I played him as well as I could play him and Lamar almost came up with the block.”

The Clippers had a chance to win but Eric Piatkowski’s open three-point shot at the buzzer was long.

In losing to the Heat for the ninth consecutive time, the Clippers dominated for three quarters, even leading by 17 points late in the third quarter. But a collapse at the start of the fourth quarter cost them as Miami outscored the Clippers, 30-18, to send the game into overtime.