Clippers Sink to Another Level, 82-79

The Clippers’ split-personality act is getting old.

Some nights, they play as if they are the NBA’s team of the future, beating highly-regarded teams such as Phoenix, New York and the Lakers.

On other nights, the Clippers repeat the same mistakes they always make, losing at home to teams such as Vancouver, New Jersey and Washington.

On Thursday, the Clippers had a chance to get back on the right track against Boston but again, they failed to execute when they needed to and lost to the Celtics, 82-79, before 12,019 at Staples Center.

Antoine Walker had his fourth triple-double of the season with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Celtics, who are 3-3 since Jim O’Brien took over as coach for Rick Pitino on Jan. 8. Paul Pierce, an Inglewood native, also had a huge game for Boston with 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Walker and Pierce were the only two Celtics to score in double figures.

Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry did not have much to say about the team’s fifth consecutive loss.

“You saw it, write what you saw,” said Gentry about his team, which has lost 11 of its last 14 to drop to 13-29. Not the right direction for a team which hoped to get better with each game.

It was Pierce who made two clutch plays in the final minute to make sure the Clippers’ losing streak continued.

With the score tied at 79, Pierce beat rookie Darius Miles on the baseline and made a reverse layup in front of Cherokee Parks with 39.2 seconds left. Then with 16.4 seconds remaining, Pierce stepped in front of a driving Lamar Odom to draw a charging foul.

The Clippers, however, still had opportunities to pull the game out.

With four seconds left and Boston ahead, 81-79, Odom’s three-point attempt was long and Eric Piatkowski wasn’t able to get off a desperation three-pointer because he stepped out of bounds.

“I just missed the shot,” said Odom, who had 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. “We had a chance to win all the way to the last play.

“We’ve lost five games in a row. Some close, some we were blown out. Everyone is a little frustrated. . . . Hopefully, we’ll be able to overcome this little slump we are in right now.”

To say Walker was on a roll heading into Thursday’s game would be an understatement. At Sacramento the night before, he made a team-record nine three-pointers and had 47 points and 13 assists. At Minnesota on Monday, he recorded his third triple-double of the season.

Against the Clippers, he made 12 of 27 shots, including three of eight three-pointers.

Like Walker, Pierce also was playing well before facing the Clippers. Pierce had 60 points over his previous two games, and Thursday he saved his best for last with nine points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter.

For the Clippers, the loss followed a familiar pattern. They started the game slowly, trailing 42-30 at halftime.

Then in the third quarter they dominated, outscoring Boston, 26-16.

“Every game we seem to start off slow,” point guard Earl Boykins said. “It’s hard to come from behind night in and night out in the NBA. You just can’t do it. At some point, we’re going to have to realize that we need to start quicker.

“It’s like we don’t start to play until we’re down. There are so many games you can do that.”

Center Michael Olowokandi, who had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, said the Clippers have to fight through this rough period.’

“Because we’re a young and up-coming team, we can’t let things like this slow up our progress,” he said. “We have to keep on playing through it. And, once we do that and gain experience, this will be something that is long-lasting.

“We can’t get discouraged just because we lost a game. We played well but we didn’t make good decisions and we could have rebounded a little better. Those are things we can correct.”

So it is back to the drawing board for the Clippers, who will play only once over the next eight days.