Clippers Barely Get Past the Hornets, 100-91

You say your basketball team is feeling blue? It hasn’t won a game in more than two weeks and the players are discouraged, maybe losing confidence? Even the coach is having a hard time finding a silver lining?

A visit from the NBA’s worst team usually helps.

The Clippers, though, probably won’t swagger into a four-day holiday break after ending their five-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 100-91 overtime victory over the New Orleans Hornets in front of 13,034 at Staples Center.

The injury-depleted Hornets erased a 21-point third-quarter deficit before falling flat in overtime and losing for the 22nd time in 24 games.

The Clippers had lost six of their previous seven games and hadn’t won since Dec. 6, falling below .500 and losing their place among the top eight in the West, but Rick Brunson scored 11 points in overtime to put them over the top.

Short-handed themselves, the Clippers squared their record at 12-12 despite playing without Corey Maggette, Marko Jaric and Kerry Kittles, all sidelined because of various ailments. And rookie Quinton Ross, starting in place of Maggette, lasted only 6 minutes 20 seconds before departing because of a left hip pointer.

Coach Mike Dunleavy had only eight players after Ross left, but that was all he needed against the NBA’s poorest-shooting team.

Bobby Simmons matched a career high with 30 points, making 12 of a career-high 25 shots. Elton Brand scored 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting and took 13 rebounds.

Brunson, making only his third start in six years, had 18 points and 10 assists, making three three-point shots in overtime and four of eight overall.

“Our guys had a lot of heart,” Dunleavy said. “They came out strong, even though we were short-handed. Defensively, we did a lot of great things.”

David Wesley, who scored 22 points, shot the Hornets back into the game, scoring 16 points in the third quarter after the Hornets had fallen behind by 21.

The Clippers led, 58-37, early in the quarter before the Hornets rallied, making 57.9% of their shots in the period and ending the quarter with a 17-1 run. The Clippers built their lead back up to eight points midway through the fourth quarter before the Hornets rallied again, taking the lead for the first time at 77-76.

“A lot of teams could fold in that situation,” said Dunleavy, whose team made six of seven shots in overtime. “I thought our guys did a good job of staying with it and coming back and getting the win.”

The Clippers were downcast Sunday after being outscored, 20-5, in the last 6 1/2 minutes of a 92-82 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the defeat dropping them below .500 only three weeks after the winningest November in Clipper history.

“I think .500 is a pretty strong psychological number,” Dunleavy said this week. “I think you can feel good about yourself at .500. Anything [below] .500 you start feeling no so good about yourself. Now you’ve become somewhat of a loser, as far as your record. You’ve got a losing record.”

He wondered how the players would respond to their recent downturn, concerned that their confidence had been eroded.

“As it builds, it sort of becomes an issue,” he said. “It can turn quickly one way or the other. The psyches of players at times, particularly young players, are very fragile. When you’re playing good, you’re good. And sometimes when you’re playing bad, you’re bad. You’ve got to really dig down mentally.”