McInnis, Maggette Lead Clippers Past Warriors

It may have taken 10 games over the last two seasons, but the Clippers finally won a game without Lamar Odom.

And they did it as a team, with Jeff McInnis recording his first triple-double in a 94-76 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night before 15,860 at Staples Center.

The Clippers were 0-6 without Odom last season and they were 0-3 without him this season while he is serving a five-game league suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy.

“It was big to win because we had been struggling without [Odom],” said McInnis, who finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.

“We just wanted to run the ball up the court and when we did that, it gave them trouble.”

The Clippers set the tone for winning without Odom, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, in practices earlier in the week. Coach Alvin Gentry made the team’s workouts competitive and his players responded.

They had their best back-to-back practices since training camp and they carried over their aggressiveness against the Warriors, who have lost nine games in a row.

“I thought we did a good job . . . competing and overplaying them on defense,” said Gentry, whose team improved to 23-44. “We never let them get into any kind of rhythm.”

The Clippers attacked Golden State all over the court. If it wasn’t McInnis putting clamps on Warrior point guards Mookie Blaylock and Vonteego Cummings, it was Darius Miles or Michael Olowokandi rejecting a shot from one of Golden State’s big men, which is a key reason the Warriors shot only 32.7% for the game.

The Clippers also attacked when they had the ball. McInnis got things going early by finding open teammates with quick passes.

“Coach told me not to do too much because Lamar wasn’t playing,” McInnis said. “Tonight, I think I established myself by passing the ball more than scoring early.

“Once I got them sagging on me because we were going inside to [Olowokandi] and [Corey] Maggette, I found myself open and I made my shots.”

Maggette, who has stepped in at small forward with Odom out, had his third double-double in four games with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Eric Piatkowski finished with 14 points and Keyon Dooling and Miles each added 13 points off the bench.

In beating the Warriors for the second time in three meetings this season, the Clippers took advantage of a depleted Golden State team. The Warriors have not won a game in March and are 1-17 since the All-Star break, mainly because of injuries.

On Friday, they had only nine players in uniform because Larry Hughes (shoulder), Marc Jackson (groin) and Paul McPherson (ankle) are hurt.

Golden State already has Danny Fortson (foot), Chris Mills (ankle) and Chris Mullin (lower back) on the injured list.

“[The Clippers] played hard tonight,” Golden State center Erick Dampier said.

“We just didn’t come out and match their intensity. It was hard for us to play catch-up with a lot of our guys out.”

Maggette, whose perimeter game has never looked better, helped the Clippers get off to a sizzling start. Maggette made all eight of his field-goal attempts, including two three-pointers, for 18 first-half points to help the Clippers to a 58-38 halftime lead.

McInnis also had a dominating first half with 12 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.

The Clippers led by as much as 24 points in the second quarter and then basically exchanged baskets with Golden State the rest of the game.

“For us to get a win [without Odom], was really important for all of the guys on the team,” Gentry said. “But obviously, we are a better team when we have Lamar Odom out there. Let’s not kid ourselves.”

Antawn Jamison led Golden State with 22 points and 11 rebounds, but he was only nine of 26 from the field.

Adonal Foyle finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors, who have lost 22 of their last 24 games.