Friendly Rivalry Continues

Elton Brand, the Clippers’ power forward, played his college basketball at Duke. Houston Rocket guard Steve Francis played at Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland.

Brand was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 NBA draft. Francis was No. 2.

Brand, then with the Chicago Bulls, and Francis, then with the Vancouver Grizzlies, shared league rookie of the year honors in 2000.

Brand had 26 points Thursday to lead the Clippers. But Francis had 32 to propel the Rockets to a 98-92 overtime victory.

“There’s been a real competition thing between us,” Brand said. “We have a lot of things in common and we’re good friends. I went up to College Park [Md.] and worked out with Stevie after college.

“Tonight, I came out on the short end of the stick, though.”

It’s a trend Brand would like to reverse. In head-to-head meetings in the NBA, Francis’ team has defeated Brand’s five consecutive times. Their next meeting is Nov. 25 at Staples Center.

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Coach Alvin Gentry’s anger disappeared a day after fuming that Wednesday’s practice was a “wasted day” because of the players’ lack of focus. He was calm, cool and collected Thursday.

“It’s over and done with,” he said before the Clippers’ game against the Rockets. “It’s not going to be the only time I’m going to be disappointed in them all year. We had a great shoot-around today. We had great focus. We came back and regrouped.”

However, there was one thing that troubled Gentry after Thursday’s loss: the Clippers recorded only 11 assists.

“We’ve got to find a better way to move the basketball,” he said. “I don’t know how you can go through an NBA game with only 11 assists.”

The Rockets had 21 assists.

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The Clippers and Rockets seem to have much in common--on paper and on the court. Both are youthful teams hoping to return to the playoffs. The Clippers last qualified for the postseason in 1996-97. The Rockets have missed the playoffs the last two seasons.

But when somebody asked Gentry if he thought the Clippers and Rockets would make good playoff rivals, Gentry scoffed.

“We’ll take any playoff rivalry with anybody; we’ll take one with the Comets,” he said, referring to Houston’s WNBA team.

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The Clippers released 400 lower-level tickets from the team’s season-ticket inventory for Saturday’s home opener against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center. The tickets are available at the box office and at TicketMaster....Houston’s Glen Rice, a former Laker, missed most of the first half after needing nine stitches to close a gash on his forehead.