Latest Road Loss Isn’t Discouraging

The Clippers refused to be discouraged about their loss Wednesday to the Kings at Sacramento. They didn’t shoot well and the Kings did. It was that simple.

Coach Alvin Gentry gave his team the day off and many of the players and coaches planned to meet at a restaurant to watch the bowl championship series national title game between Nebraska and Miami.

“They are as good a team as there is in the league,” Gentry said of the Kings, who lead the NBA with an 18-1 mark at home and are third in the West behind the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. “They’re capable of beating any team in the league.”

Gentry then called tonight’s game against the Denver Nuggets “very important.”

“San Antonio, Sacramento and the Lakers--we don’t worry too much about losing to them,” Gentry said. “It’s the other teams, the Denvers and Phoenixes of the world.... We’ve got to find a way to win on the road. We’re all in the same position.”

The Clippers are 1-8 on the road, but 15-7 at Staples Center. Only the Chicago Bulls, winless in 16, are worse away from home.

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Lamar Odom came through Wednesday’s game against Sacramento just fine. He had missed three games because of a badly sprained right wrist, but was among the Clippers’ most effective players in scoring 13 points, taking seven rebounds and adding four assists in 40 minutes.

“I asked him after the game about his wrist and he said, ‘Coach, this is the least pain I’ve had in a while,”’ Gentry said. “You don’t plan to play him 40 minutes, but you stick him out there and you’re so comfortable with him.”

In Gentry’s opinion, Elton Brand continues to shine.

“Everybody wanted to see how he’d do against guys like Karl Malone and Rasheed Wallace because, you know, everyone says he’s undersized for a power forward,” Gentry said of Brand, 6 feet 8 and 265 pounds. “He’s proved he can do it. He’s faced a lot of double-teaming and he’s proved he can do it.”

In his first season as a Clipper, Brand leads the team with averages of 19.5 points and 11.1 rebounds in 31 games.

TONIGHT

at Denver, 6 PST

Site--Pepsi Center.

Radio--KRLA (870).

Records--Clippers 16-15, Nuggets 10-20.

Record vs. Nuggets--0-1.

Update--The Nuggets have lost seven of their last 10 and were beaten Wednesday by the Lakers. Mike Evans has taken over for Dan Issel as Nugget coach since the Clippers’ last visit to Denver, a 96-93 loss Nov. 30. The Nuggets have defeated the Clippers in their last seven meetings at Denver. Tonight’s game is the third in a stretch of four in five nights for the Clippers, who are 1-1 thus far.