Clippers Suffer Familiar Fade

The Clippers thought they were past all this. They believed they put the fourth-quarter meltdowns behind them. They looked as if they were turning a corner, gaining momentum and victories after a nightmarish start of the season.

Instead, they ran into their old selves again Wednesday night.

There was no excuse for what happened during the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ head-scratching 97-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center. The Clippers gave away a game they should have won with the same steady play they displayed in the first three quarters.

Or more to the point, the Trail Blazers took what the Clippers gave them in rallying from a 77-67 deficit to start the final quarter. Portland outscored the Clippers, 30-16, in the fourth quarter, which included runs of 20-10 and 15-0.

This one will sting for a while.

Instead of victories in six of eight games, the Clippers will consider another in a string of poor finishes that includes squandering a 16-point lead in a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 22.

“We played beautiful basketball up to there [the fourth quarter],” Coach Alvin Gentry said. “All everybody is going to remember is that down the stretch, we couldn’t score. It’s unfortunate. It cost us the game.”

The Trail Blazers made 10 of 18 shots in the fourth; the Clippers four of 15.

“Down the stretch, they scored when it really mattered,” said Clipper center Michael Olowokandi. “We couldn’t do anything offensively. When it matters, when it’s like playoff basketball, we have to run our offense better. You can’t help but feel you gave one away when you had a 14-point lead. If you can’t score, at the very least you can minimize their opportunities.”

Portland stayed close, thanks to Jeff McInnis, a former Clipper, who scored nine of his 17 points in the third quarter. The Trail Blazer rally got started when Scottie Pippen made two three-point baskets midway through the fourth, the second cutting their deficit to 87-80.

By then, the Clippers were in trouble and the Trail Blazers were rolling toward a 15-0 run that would take them to a 92-87 lead. Bonzi Wells led Portland with his second consecutive 30-point game.

“We were trying to hang around and hang around,” Portland Coach Maurice Cheeks said afterward. “It was a gut-it-out win.”

The Clippers and the crowd of 16,194 watched in silence as point guard Andre Miller hit the floor with a thud after a collision with Jeff McInnis in the first minute of the second quarter.

Miller clutched at the sprained left ankle that has troubled him since he ran into Sacramento’s Bobby Jackson on Nov. 29.

Miller, who had 13 points in the first quarter, went to the locker room to have his ankle brace adjusted and missed only two minutes. He would score 25 points in 44 minutes.

As has become their custom during their hot streak, the Clippers didn’t depend on one player to get them a double-digit lead in the second half.

This was another group effort, with Quentin Richardson leading the charge off the bench, scoring a season-best 24 points, including 18 in the second quarter, in 31 minutes.

The Clippers’ momentum fizzled to start the fourth quarter, their inability to make shots or create them when plays broke down proved costly.

“We’ve got to create things,” Gentry said. “We had some bad possessions in the last four or five minutes of the game. We ran the same plays we did for the first three quarters. They defended us the same way. We had the same options.”

The Clippers simply didn’t click.

One night after an impressive 102-93 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at Portland, the Trail Blazers seemed to be going through the motions early.

The Clippers built a 45-35 lead after Richardson’s club-record fifth three-pointer in a quarter 5 1/2 minutes before halftime.

By the break, the Trail Blazers had drawn close only to falter again in the closing moments.

Richardson made a hanging jump shot over Bonzi Wells from the baseline. Elton Brand scored on a twisting layup in traffic. Michael Olowokandi swatted Wells’ driving layup attempt. And the Clippers held a hard-earned 52-46 lead by halftime.