Clippers Lose Pace

The Clippers didn’t need to be flawless to win Saturday. No one expected perfection from them against the Indiana Pacers--a team they battered by 31 points Dec. 2 at Staples Center.

But the Clippers committed an unpardonable sin in the eyes of Coach Alvin Gentry when they failed to put forth the effort required to defeat an opponent on its home court.

“I wish I knew the reason why,” Gentry said after the Clippers lost to the Pacers, 106-88, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,345 at Conseco Fieldhouse. “We have to play with much more energy than we did tonight. We didn’t play hard and come up with the loose balls. We didn’t compete the way we usually do.

“I was very disappointed. They played and competed harder. I don’t care who we have out there; we gave up way too many easy baskets. It’s tough to win on the road even when you play well. And we didn’t play well.”

That was true of a majority of the Clippers, but there were two exceptions.

Power forward Elton Brand scored 23 points, took 21 rebounds to match his career high and hit the floor several times in an attempt to secure loose balls. Point guard Jeff McInnis also scored 23 points.

Early on, the Clippers appeared resigned to absorbing a beating from the Pacers, falling behind by 22 points in the second quarter. The Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to a mere 89-83 on Tremaine Fowlkes’ tip-in of Quentin Richardson’s miss.

Fowlkes, signed to a 10-day contract Saturday, capped an 11-0 run and gave the Clippers a fighting chance at completing an improbable rally. After all, there was 7:47 still to be played.

Instead, Jermaine O’Neal made a hook shot and Reggie Miller scored on a jump shot for two of his 28 points and the Pacers’ regained their lost momentum. Soon enough, they stormed away with a 14-0 run that sealed the Clippers’ ninth consecutive loss at Indianapolis.

In the final analysis, the game wasn’t won or lost in the fourth quarter. It was determined by the Pacers’ 21-7 run before halftime.

The Clippers trailed, 39-35, after Brand’s driving layup and a free throw after he was fouled with 4:10 remaining in the second quarter.

Suddenly, the Clippers couldn’t score and couldn’t defend and the game was a laugher after Indiana went on a 17-0 run in roughly three minutes. Indiana led, 60-42, at the half.

“In that second quarter, when they turned up their defensive pressure, we folded,” McInnis said. “I know I came out pumped up for this game. I thought everyone else would be, too.

“We cut it to six, but we couldn’t do anything after that. It’s a big disappointing loss.”

There’s no question the Clippers aren’t the same team without Lamar Odom, who has a sprained wrist and ankle, and Corey Maggette (dislocated fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand).

And anyone who watched Darius Miles realized his sprained right shoulder and muscle spasms on his right side were the reasons he was rendered earthbound Saturday.

Plus, Quentin Richardson, who suffered a strained right hamstring in the Clippers’ loss Thursday to the Orlando Magic, didn’t seem to be moving at anything resembling top speed.

Gentry refused to make excuses, however.

“The one thing we can’t start doing is feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said when asked about the string of injuries that have threatened to derail the Clippers’ charge toward a playoff spot.

“That’s inexcusable. As long as we play hard and complete, we can have a chance to win on most nights.”

Brand agreed.

“It just comes down to the fact that we didn’t play well at all,” he said. “We can’t make excuses. We put a talented enough [starting] five out there and we should be able to do something.”

Brand would not use the stretched tendon in his right ring finger as an excuse. He said it continues to trouble him. Frustrated after shooting a first-quarter airball, he ripped off the protective tape on his finger and began to make shots and take rebounds.

Neither he nor McInnis could make enough shots or enough plays to bail out their teammates, however, and the Clippers lost their second in three games to start this five-game trip.