Clippers Bury Losing Streak

The streak died on the fastbreak, with Corey Maggette rising ever higher above the rim. It also died on the low block, with Elton Brand twisting and turning away from defenders. And it died in the confident hands of Andre Miller and Lamar Odom, who refused to let it drag on for another game.

The Clippers had to make a stand at some point and Wednesday at Staples Center was as good a time as any to take a 103-95 victory from the Memphis Grizzlies and end their six-game losing streak.

In the end, the Clippers played as if their season depended on a victory. They are still in trouble, however, having dropped to last place in the Pacific Division.

This was a night to show their desperate side, so seldom on display this season. The Clippers’ best players were their best players, another rare sight.

Maggette scored nine points during a pivotal 18-9 run midway through the fourth quarter. The Clippers surged from a 79-78 lead into a 97-87 advantage thanks in large part to Maggette’s slashing moves to the basket from the wings.

He finished with 16 points.

Brand went for a season-best 30 points on 14-for-22 shooting.

Odom scored 23 points.

Miller had 19 points and 14 assists and did not commit a turnover in 48 minutes.

“We all needed to come out like monsters,” Brand said after the Clippers won for only the second time in 10 games. “It’s just effort. We have to do it every night....

“We wanted to come out with intensity. It was a game we had to win.”

Coach Alvin Gentry all but let out a sigh of relief as he began his postgame session with reporters. He had hoped for a performance like the one the Clippers gave, but it had been so long since he had seen anything like it that he wondered before the game if it would happen at all.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a needed win,” he said. “It’s a Godsend. We needed anything positive to build on.”

Naturally, it wasn’t all good Wednesday.

There were jeers for center Michael Olowokandi and cheers for former Clipper Darius Miles as a crowd of 14,842 made clear its frustrations from the start.

“Sometimes they want to find a scapegoat,” Olowokandi would say of the fans after scoring six points and taking 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. I’ve played here for five years. I did publicly state that I wasn’t going to be here next year, which I would publicly state again. I won’t be here next year.

“So if they want to boo, they can go right ahead and boo.”

Olowokandi was booed with increasing intensity each time he touched the ball in the low post. He was cheered when he left for the bench late in the half, with the Clippers holding a double-digit lead.

It was not enough to please some grumpy fans.

A few bellowed for Gentry to replace Olowokandi with seldom-used Wang Zhizhi, and roared their approval when Wang entered for only the 18th time in 35 games, with the Clippers ahead, 67-62, with 4:52 left in the third quarter.

Miles took a courtside seat a few minutes into the game, the applause rising as fans noticed him walking along the baseline. Miles and his new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, play the Lakers on Friday. The Clippers sent Miles, a fan favorite, to the Cavaliers to get Miller in a four-player trade last summer.

Apart from one significant brain cramp, the Clippers played efficiently in the early going.

They led, 13-2, and there were few signs of the listlessness they displayed in trailing the San Antonio Spurs, 12-2, en route to a 94-86 loss Sunday.

By halftime, the Clippers led, 54-43. The Clippers went to Brand again and again, taking advantage of various mismatches against smaller and less-skillful Grizzlies, including backup forward Stromile Swift, to score 15 points on seven-for-15 shooting in the first half.

The Clippers led by 15 points several times in the first half, but let down their guard in spectacular fashion and watched haplessly as the Grizzlies surged briefly in the second quarter.