Clippers still not up to speed

Perhaps it’s time for the Clippers to reassess their goals for the season again.

Players revised their expectations after a disappointing start, and it seemed appropriate for them to make more changes after the Washington Wizards routed the Clippers, 116-105, on Friday night in front of 20,173 at the Verizon Center.

Washington raced to 39 fastbreak points, scored 25 points off 20 Clippers turnovers, led by 19 in the second half and shot 51.6% from the field.

The Beltway was abuzz about Gilbert Arenas’ birthday bash (it reportedly cost $1 million) scheduled to start after the game, and the Wizards’ All-Star guard got the party started early, scoring 35 points with 12 assists.

The Clippers wasted Elton Brand’s 29-point, 12-rebound performance and shot 43.7% in another poor showing on the road.

They dropped to 3-12 as a visiting team and are 1-2 on a six-game, 10-day trip that continues tonight against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.

The Clippers (15-18) began the trip hopeful of evening their record and building momentum to escape the cellar in the Pacific Division. They still could return to Los Angeles with a .500 mark if they swept the remaining three games but putting together a solid half is often a formidable challenge for this bunch.

“We fell into a trap,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “The first quarter of the game, we were playing the game we wanted to play. We were getting the ball inside-out, making good decisions, and playing the right tempo for us. Then we hit a stretch where we got out of tempo.

“We let them get into the open court and they scored 39 fastbreak points on us. They’ve got three guys who are basically scoring all their points for them, so you’ve got to throw the kitchen sink at those guys and make other guys come in and make plays and beat you.”

The Clippers failed on both fronts.

Arenas (30.5), Caron Butler (20.9) and Antawn Jamison (19.5) are the league’s highest-scoring trio at 70.9 points a game. On Friday, Butler scored 27 and Jamison contributed 19 for a three-man total of 81 points on 35-for-60 shooting from the field.

And center Brendan Haywood, who averages only 6.6 points and 6.7 rebounds, had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Washington (19-13), which has won 15 of 19 and is tied for first place in the Southeast Division.

The Clippers, however, were most frustrated about Washington’s fastbreak points.

To put the Wizards’ 39-point total in perspective, consider that the Clippers gave up the fewest fastbreak points in the NBA last season, 9.79 a game.

“Thirty-nine fastbreak points is a ... that’s just ridiculous,” Brand said. “That’s what they do, they’ve got guys who are fast and versatile, and our turnovers hurt us.

“They just capitalized and made buckets. We seemed to have it in our tempo and in control, especially in that first quarter, and then we just had a huge lapse.”

Brand was hot and helped the Clippers take a 13-point lead with 10 minutes 32 seconds to play in the first half. But the Clippers again got careless and committed seven turnovers in the second quarter that led to 13 points for Washington.

Arenas scored nine of his 16 second-quarter points in a 19-4 run that gave the Wizards a 50-48 lead with 5:20 left before halftime. The Clippers scored a season-high 39 points and led by 10 after the first quarter, but trailed, 66-57, at halftime and never recovered.

“It was the turnovers,” said Shaun Livingston, who finished with 19 points and eight assists. “We gave it back every time we got a stop, and you just can’t make up ground against a team as offensively gifted as that.”

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jason.reid@latimes.com

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KEYS TO THE GAME

* Run, run, run. The Wizards scored 39 fastbreak points and ran the Clippers out of the Verizon Center.

* The game plan didn’t work on defense. The Clippers focused on Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison -- and they still combined to score 81 points. The trio averages 70.9 points a game.

* Poor fundamentals. The Clippers struggled to pass to the post, box out and rotate on defense.

-- JASON REID