Trying again for first road win

Well, here they go again.

The Clippers tonight attempt to get their first road victory, in their seventh road game, against the San Antonio Spurs at the SBC Center.

Life away from Staples Center has been harder than expected for the Clippers, who figured they would be among the NBA’s top road teams after setting a franchise record with 20 road victories last season.

But things have not gone according to plan, so the Clippers must make a stand on their two-game, three-day trip that continues Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies.

“No doubt about it, we need to get it going now,” Elton Brand said. “We got off to a real slow start on the road, we didn’t play the way we were capable of playing, so we need to start getting some” road victories.

“There were a lot of things that we didn’t do right, a lot of mistakes we were making, but we’ve been playing better the last couple of games at home. Now, we’ve got to take what we did in those games and build on it on the road.”

San Antonio has won three in a row, is 6-3 at home and leads the Southwest Division. The Clippers are coming off victories over the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat at Staples, inspiring confidence as they face the Spurs.

However, the Clippers have lost seven in a row here, last winning in San Antonio in 2002, and they’ve been confident before.

“We’ve got to play together as a team,” Corey Maggette said. “You should play that way all the time, but especially on the road.”

The Clippers have refocused their efforts on getting the ball inside to Brand, following the formula that led to their franchise-best season last season. The All-NBA player had 31 points against Orlando and 33 in the win over the Heat -- the first time Brand has scored at least 30 points in consecutive games this season.

“We’re just getting the ball to ‘the Horse,’ ” Sam Cassell said. “It’s like I always say, we’re only going to go as far as ‘the Horse’ is going to take us. We have to ride him on the road now. It’s just that simple.”

*

Although Chris Kaman is a skilled 7-foot center, he’s not considered among the league’s most physical players at his position.

Kaman often struggles against the game’s strong post players, and he did again against the Heat. Shaquille O’Neal was sidelined while recovering from knee surgery, but Alonzo Mourning outplayed Kaman in the post.

In 29 minutes, the muscular Mourning had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. He made seven of eight shots from the field.

Kaman, who was in foul trouble in the first half, had only four points and six rebounds in 18 minutes. He struggled to prevent Mourning from getting into scoring position, and the scene was familiar to the Clippers.

Fortunately for Kaman and the Clippers, the Spurs’ centers are not as physically imposing as O’Neal, Mourning or Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets.

TONIGHT

at San Antonio, 5 PST

FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- AT&T; Center.

Radio -- 710.

Records -- Clippers 9-8, Spurs 14-5.

Record vs. Spurs (2005-06) -- 1-2.

Update -- Tim Duncan leads the Spurs with averages of 22.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. Manu Ginobili recently returned to the lineup after sitting out four games because of a back injury.

jason.reid@latimes.com