Clippers Fight a Losing Battle

The Portland Trail Blazers’ volatile power forward Rasheed Wallace was all smiles and the Clippers couldn’t do anything about it.

In a true case of role reversal, Wallace watched former North Carolina teammate Jeff McInnis pick up a technical foul in the third quarter of the Clippers’ 104-96 loss to Portland on Monday night, and did his best to make the situation worse.

“Kick him out,” Wallace encouraged official Bennett Salvatore, who declined to give McInnis another technical. “Throw him out of the game.”

At the time, the Trail Blazers seemed in control. They led by 16 points and the Clippers were struggling. Lamar Odom had been hampered by fouls and their starting backcourt of Eric Piatkowski and McInnis had combined for only four points over the first three quarters.

But instead of folding, the Clippers used Wallace’s antics as motivation and made a game of it in the fourth quarter. With McInnis, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the final quarter, and Odom, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, leading the charge, the Clippers rallied from an 18-point deficit and used a 13-3 run to reduce the lead to six points in the final minutes before a sellout Rose Garden crowd of 20,580.

“We could have easily packed it in because they have everything to play for and obviously, we’re not a playoff team,” said Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry, whose team ended a two-game winning streak. “I was real happy with our effort for the 48 minutes. Which is important to us, win or lose.”

Added McInnis: “I took myself out of the game by letting the refs dictate how I should play. I allowed myself to get frustrated . . . but after my teammates told me to stay with it, I tried to finish the game on a strong note.”

Steve Smith finished with 19 points, including 11 of 11 from the free-throw line, and Wallace, who leads the league with an NBA record-tying 38 technical fouls but did not get one on Monday, also had 19 points for the Trail Blazers, who have won three in a row and improved to 46-24 to move within a half-game of the Lakers for fourth place in the Western Conference standings.

Another key for Portland, which split the four-game season-series with the Clippers, was the strong games off the bench from Shawn Kemp (14 points in 19 minutes) and recent addition Rod Strickland (eight points and five assists in 23 minutes).

“They are a deep and good team,” said reserve center Sean Rooks, who had 10 points for the Clippers. “We tried to do the best we could but they just overwhelmed us.”

For young Clipper players such as rookies Quentin Richardson, Darius Miles and Keyon Dooling, along with second-year swingman Corey Maggette, it was another learning experience against a veteran team.

The four players combined for 46 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists and they helped keep the Clippers in the game.

“When we come in, we know that it’s our opportunity to do something,” said Richardson, who finished with 13 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field. “We know we have to produce and play well in order to stay out there.”

Many of Richardson points came against Scottie Pippen, a player he watched for years playing for the Bulls when he was growing up in Chicago.

“There were a few times when I scored on him and when I came back down the court he would say, ‘Good move or nice shot,’ ” Richardson, 20, said of the 35-year-old Pippen. “But after a while he said, ‘That’s it’. I couldn’t help but think about watching him win championships with [Michael] Jordan and realizing I was out there scoring on him.

“This is all what our first season is about. For us being so young, there’s been plenty of times we’ve played against guys who we’ve looked up to all of our lives.”

Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy praised the Clippers.

“I think Alvin has done a terrific job with the team,” Dunleavy said. “Even tonight, they had plenty of opportunities to quit but they played really hard all the way through it . . . They are going to be a tough team down the road.”

The Clippers, who shot 46.1%, finished with six players in double-figure scoring. Maggette had another solid game with 19 points and five rebounds and Miles had 12 points and three rebounds. Center Michael Olowokandi, however, had only six points and four rebounds.