Big Losses at Small Forward

The news from L.A. was not good for the Clippers on Thursday. It wasn’t too good from San Antonio either before the Clippers faced the Spurs at the Alamodome. Neither of the team’s top two small forwards would be playing.

Lamar Odom had his sprained right wrist examined by Tony Daly, the Clippers’ doctor, in L.A. When Odom’s cast was removed Thursday, Daly discovered there was only “slight progress” and a new target date for his return was set for one month from today.

Odom, injured Dec. 16 against the Detroit Pistons, has a new cast on his wrist. He is scheduled to wear it for two weeks, then undergo another exam with Daly and wear a third cast for one more week.

Corey Maggette sat out the Clippers’ victory Thursday and was uncertain if he could play Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, the fourth stop on the team’s seven-game trip. Maggette suffered a strained left knee in Tuesday’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Darius Miles replaced Maggette in the starting lineup.

“We’re not going to make any excuses,” Coach Alvin Gentry said when asked about missing Odom and Maggette. “Corey’s sitting out and Lamar is back in L.A., but we’re not going to use it as an excuse. We’re going to play and compete with the guys we have and we’re not going to use it as a crutch.”

The Clippers had only 10 sound players Thursday, which was fine with Gentry. He played only eight in their 91-87 victory.

At game’s end, the Clippers gathered around a television in their locker room to watch the highlights of the Washington Wizards’ last-second victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. They marveled at Michael Jordan’s winning jump shot and wondered how he could be left so open.

“Where’s Craig Ehlo?” more than one player asked, referring to the former Cavalier, who shadowed Jordan unsuccessfully on a long-ago, frequently replayed, last-second jumper in the playoffs.

Elliott Teaford