Clippers are only half good

Raymond Felton roared, thumping his chest. Emeka Okafor smiled slyly. Gerald Wallace snaked and slithered his way into the lane.

The Clippers, en masse, withdrew at the onslaught.

Continuing a troubling trend, the Clippers had no comeback to an aggressive counter, a 12-point halftime lead disintegrating into a 108-103 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday in front of 10,751.

“You want the truth?” point guard Brevin Knight responded when asked what is causing the Jekyll and Hyde halftime transformations.

“No clue. None. It’s baffling to me. You go out and play one way and it’s cool. Come back a whole other way.”

Felton scored half of his 26 points in the third quarter when the Bobcats streaked to two 11-0 runs, outscoring the Clippers, 36-17. Wallace scored 10 of his 25 points and Okafor nine of his 25 in the defining stretch.

“We let them get back into the game with carelessness and energy on their part,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

The Clippers, who won at New Jersey on Tuesday, have yet to win consecutive games since starting the season 4-0.

They played their eighth game without veteran point guard Sam Cassell, who said before the game he doubts his strained calf will be healed enough for him to play Sunday when the Clippers play the Lakers.

They did, however, receive a boost from another point guard.

Dan Dickau marked a season high in points for a second consecutive game, scoring 16 points and making four three-point baskets in 27 minutes.

Corey Maggette scored a team-high 23 points on nine-for-14 shooting, but the Clippers could not overcome a rare subpar performance by center Chris Kaman.

Kaman started strong, scoring 10 points and taking seven rebounds in the first quarter, but he finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

“This was a little bit of an off night for him,” Dunleavy said. “He had a couple opportunities early to attack the rim and could have maybe dunked the ball or gone stronger than he did. But it’s an aberration as opposed to the norm for him. He’s been playing great for us.”

Forward Tim Thomas, who finished with 16 points, said fatigue may have been a factor in the second-half fallout.

“Tonight was a prime example of that,” he said. “I can’t speak for everyone else. But today, I don’t know what was going on. I was flat-out beat from the beginning of the game. At certain times, it hurt the team, but I don’t know, overall, we just need to focus more on coming out of the gate at the second half and starting it better.”

Said Maggette: “We come into the second half when we are up and come with an attitude like we’ve got the game already won. We need to be better.”

The Clippers used two 10-0 runs to take a 55-43 lead at halftime.

The Bobcats responded by shooting 59% in the second half and 50% (40 of 80) for the game.

Their second-half troubles have been marked and defined this season, but the loss to the Bobcats, their first in four games here, brought it streaming to the surface.

“I don’t know,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve got to work on it. I’ve got to find a way to fix it. I don’t have the answer right now, or else it wouldn’t happen.”

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com