This 13th Unlucky for Lakers

A bad day for the Lakers got worse Sunday night.

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Clippers, 88-79, in front of 18,031 at Staples Center, pushing the Lakers into fourth place in the Western Conference playoff race, a full game behind the Spurs.

The Clippers only wish their problems were so trivial.

Losers of 13 in a row and 21 of 23, they haven’t won since March 16. They’ve lost eight in a row in Staples Center and have fallen into last place in the West behind the Phoenix Suns, 89-83 winners Sunday night over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Still, they led by a point early in the fourth quarter against the Spurs before Tim Duncan scored all 10 points during a 10-2 Spur run that made the score 74-67. The Spurs never led by fewer than four points the rest of the way.

Duncan, who finished with 26 points and nine rebounds, scored 18 points on eight-for-11 shooting in the fourth quarter and “really saved our fannies,” Coach Gregg Popovich said afterward.

The Spurs, one game behind the Minnesota Timberwolves as they chase their fourth consecutive Midwest Division championship into the season’s final three days, had squandered a 13-point lead against the undermanned Clippers.

Though Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons and Chris Wilcox returned to the Clipper lineup, Corey Maggette sat out because of a strained right hamstring, joining injured point guard Marko Jaric on the sideline.

And Richardson, who had sat out 10 of the previous 11 games because of back spasms, clearly was rusty. After traveling to Miami last week to have his back checked by a specialist, he returned to the team Friday and in his first game since March 22 missed 16 of 17 shots, scoring five points in 43 minutes.

“I can’t blame it on [rust],” he said. “I just had a bad game.”

Said Coach Mike Dunleavy: “With Corey out, we were just hoping that we could get him hot at some point. We were close enough that if we could get anything rolling, you’ve got a chance to steal one.”

The Spurs wouldn’t let it happen.

Winners of nine in a row and 11 of 12, the defending NBA champions limited the Clippers to 27.3% shooting in the fourth quarter, holding them without a field goal for nearly six minutes.

Elton Brand led the Clippers with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, but he was on the bench for a brief rest when the game turned.

Shortly after Brand sat down, Simmons scored on a layup to give the Clippers a 67-66 lead with 9:47 to play. But Duncan, taking advantage of Brand’s absence, scored six consecutive points before the Clipper forward returned.

“He’d started heating up already,” Brand said of the two-time league MVP, “and by the time I got back in there, he was hot.”

And the Clippers got burned.

They’d pushed the Spurs but came up short once again.

They’ve got two more chances to end their losing streak, Tuesday night at Phoenix and Wednesday night against the Seattle SuperSonics in the season finale at Staples Center.