Clippers Sink Lower Still as Boston Wins

Disappointed again, angry with themselves after another bitter defeat against what they believe is an inferior opponent, the Clippers flew off to Washington late Wednesday for a Friday night game against the Wizards.

That much was certain.

The question was: Was their season headed south too?

Their 94-89 loss to the Boston Celtics in front of 13,136 in FleetCenter was their third in a row against a team that had a losing record after they dropped two-point games Friday at Milwaukee and Sunday at Philadelphia.

This was the most galling yet, the Clippers failing to protect a 14-point fourth-quarter lead as the Celtics outscored them, 29-10, over the last 10 minutes.

The Clippers’ lead had been 20 points in the second quarter and 18 in the third, but after making 57.9% of their shots in the first half, they made only 22.2% in the second while the revitalized Celtics made 56.3%.

“They came up much stronger in the second half,” Marko Jaric said after the Clippers’ 13th loss in their last 15 road games, with four more to go on this trip, three against teams with winning records. “They started bombing us, they started playing really tough and we didn’t respond very well in that we were kind of too soft.

“On the road, we need to know we need to be much tougher -- physically, mentally -- if we want to win these kinds of games.”

Making this one all the more difficult to swallow was that the Clippers had seen it before. Two months ago, the Celtics rallied from a 14-point deficit for a 134-127 double-overtime victory at Staples Center.

“This was the second time this has happened to us,” Elton Brand said. “They just out-fought us, out-willed us ... every possession....

“They were just tougher. They wanted it more, it seemed.”

The Clippers wasted another strong effort by Brand, who finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds, and an encouraging return to the lineup by Corey Maggette, who scored 21 points in 30 minutes in his first game since Jan. 28.

All-Star forward Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, with 15 points, five rebounds and six assists in the second half. Ricky Davis scored all 12 of his points after halftime, eight in the fourth quarter.

Maggette’s two free throws with 10:04 to play capped a 6-0 run by the Clippers to open the final quarter, pushing their lead to 79-65.

At the other end, a three-point play by Pierce seemed harmless enough at the time but jump-started a 16-0 run by the Celtics that gave them their first lead of the game. They kept it the rest of the way, answering with three-point plays each time after the Clippers twice cut the deficit to one point.

“They started playing really, really aggressive on defense and we lost our confidence,” Jaric said. “We started missing even open shots. We didn’t have a lot of good looks in the second half but even those good looks we started missing because we lost confidence.”

The Clippers made only 32% of their shots after the first quarter. The Celtics, meanwhile, made 60% in the fourth quarter.

“Now, it’s tough because next time we are 20 points up we’re going to know that we’re going to be able to lose,” Jaric said. “Mentally, it’s a very tough loss.”

Their trip, which opened promisingly last week with a comeback victory at Memphis, has since taken a downturn. Their record is 23-26.

“We could just as easily be 4-0 on this trip and in the driver’s seat about how we’re playing,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Now we’re back to where we’ve got to scramble. We’re just not taking care of business.”