A Trying Loss for Clippers

It was no surprise that the Clippers lost Monday to the Sacramento Kings, considering how poorly they shot.

The wonder was that they kept the score close.

Close it was, though, the Clippers’ parlaying grit and guile into an eight-point lead in the third quarter and a five-point advantage in the fourth before stumbling in the last 4 1/2 minutes of an 89-83 defeat at Staples Center.

A crowd of 17,139 saw the Kings score 15 of the game’s last 19 points to emerge from the holiday matinee with their second victory over the Clippers in three days, their seventh in a row over them and their 12th in the teams’ last 13 meetings.

With scoring leader Corey Maggette misfiring on 15 of 17 shots, the Clippers made a season-worst 31.9% of their field-goal attempts but pulled down 55 rebounds and, despite their poor marksmanship, rallied from an early 13-point deficit behind the strong inside play of Elton Brand and Chris Kaman.

“I feel bad for the guys,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said after the Clippers (18-19) had again dipped below .500, “because in many ways they did enough good things to win the game. But down the stretch we made some crucial mistakes: a couple turnovers, a foul at the wrong time. We just have to become headier players. We’ve got to learn the thinking part of the game too. We’re doing a pretty good job on the effort part of the game.

“At times, we get a little frazzled and just don’t make the proper read or the proper play. But as far as from an effort standpoint and everything they’ve given us, it’s terrific. You know, the guys are young and they’re making some strides, but this is the battle we’re going to fight.”

The Clippers led, 79-74, when Bobby Simmons coughed up the ball to Cuttino Mobley, compounding the error by fouling the King guard.

When Mobley missed the second of two free throws, Brad Miller sneaked inside for an offensive rebound and scored on a follow shot, making the score 79-77. Peja Stojakovic then stepped in front of a Kaman pass, drove the length of the floor and scored on a driving six-foot hook to pull the Kings even.

The Clippers twice regained the lead, the last time at 83-82 on a turnaround jump shot by Brand with 1:16 to play, but the Kings scored the game’s last seven points. Mobley gave them the lead for good on a three-point shot from the right wing.

At the other end, Maggette missed a three-point shot -- the Clippers were 0 for 6 from beyond the arc -- and Kaman missed a follow. Bibby took the rebound, and Maggette inexplicably fouled him in the backcourt with 36 seconds left.

“I wasn’t trying to foul him,” Maggette said. “I tried to jump in front of him.... I didn’t want them to get an easy fastbreak.... I was really just trying to slow them down, and I got called for a foul. It was a mistake on my part.”

Bibby made both free throws. Mobley added two more after another missed shot by Maggette, and the Clippers, heading out for a three-game trip starting Wednesday night at San Antonio, tried to put it behind them.

“Record-wise, that’s one of the best teams in the NBA, so we can take it as a positive that we played them well,” Brand said. “But we want victories.”

Brand scored 24 points on 10-for-22 shooting and took 10 rebounds after scoring 25 and taking 14 in Saturday night’s 99-95 loss at Sacramento. Kaman followed up his 23-point, seven-rebound effort Saturday by scoring 18 points on seven-for-20 shooting and matching a career high by taking 15 rebounds.

“We’ve just been able to get the ball in there, and it’s been fairly easy for me and Elton,” Kaman said. “I don’t want to say easy, but it has been.”

Chris Webber, who scored 36 points Saturday, poured in 23 more and led the Kings with 14 rebounds and six assists. Mobley scored 19 points, Bibby 18 and Stojakovic 17.

“They hit the big shots,” Brand said of the Kings. “They executed better than we did. It’s very disappointing, the way these games ended. We had a shot in both of the games, especially here at home, and we couldn’t get it.”