A dash of rookie hope shows up for the Clippers

Al Thornton was too nervous to sleep much Thursday night.

The Clipper rookie’s heart raced and his thoughts churned as he imagined what awaited him Friday in his NBA debut, hope and doubt vying for control of his mind.

He wondered whether he would be able to keep up with players he’d watched on TV as a kid, whether he belonged with them now after four years at Florida State, seasons of steady and significant improvement that moved him up to the 14th pick in the draft.

The 6-foot-7 forward wondered whether his solid performances and 16.3 scoring average in exhibition play were a true reflection of what he can do or whether he should forget all that now, with the intensity about to ratchet up.

He tossed. He turned. So many questions. So little rest.

“I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions,” he said softly before the Clippers’ 120-114 season-opening victory over Golden State at Staples Center.

“This is my first real big game.”

It was a good game. Not a great one, but one in which he gave the 19,060 fans reason to believe that he isn’t in over his head and that he will learn and grow and make the wait for Elton Brand to return from an Achilles’ tendon injury a lot less painful for the Clippers.

Opening night is a time when optimism doesn’t seem so foolish and hope abounds, even for the Clippers.

They started this season without Brand and without Shaun Livingston, who’s still recovering from that gruesome knee injury he suffered last February, but they showed enough heart on Friday to signal that they may fight to stay in the playoff picture in the tough Western Conference.

They showed more spirit than defensive chops against the Warriors, who are Phoenix Sun-wannabes, but in the end the Clippers hung on and they had to be pleased with that.

They also had reason to be pleased with Thornton’s five-point effort, which met the approval of a lively crowd that included his mother, Philomenia and father, Alford.

“Coming in, I had a couple good games under my belt and that definitely gives you confidence,” said Thornton, who played 19 minutes and had five points off two-for-six shooting and one free throw in two attempts. He also had three rebounds and an assist.

His teammates, he said, “told me when I get in the game, be in attack mode,” and he was.

He entered the game with 2:39 left in the first quarter, and the Clippers holding a five-point lead. He got his name on the score sheet for the first time 13 seconds later with a foul, bumping Mickael Pietrus in a moment of overexuberance.

Thornton soon got his emotions under control and got into the flow on offense. He passed to Corey Maggette on the perimeter, who found Tim Thomas for a 13-foot turnaround jump shot, a sequence that in hockey would have gotten Thornton a second assist.

He hit his first field goal early in the second quarter, taking a pass from Brevin Knight and making an 18-foot shot from deep on the left side that gave the Clippers a 37-27 lead. His only other field goal was an 11-foot turnaround jump shot with 7 minutes 15 seconds left in the second quarter.

He had some problems on defensive coverage, once falling for a fake that no veteran would buy. That’s the tradeoff for the energy and scoring potential that he will provide.

“He’s a rookie, we understand that,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

“The good news for us is that he’s a very explosive player. And that he could put up a bunch of numbers in a hurry. But he’s also a rookie and can make mistakes, do things because he doesn’t know.”

Dunleavy also said that Thornton will have to learn how to properly channel the nervous energy that he struggled so mightily to contain Friday. The exhibition games in which Thornton flailed most noticeably, Dunleavy said, “are games that he has been a little bit too fast, in too much of a hurry. The games he’s kind of got into where he’s been in good rhythm and good control are games where he’s played really well.”

Thornton’s teammates expect that he will learn how to pace himself and not try to force things. They also expect him to skillfully handle the high expectations that began to spring up when he had a strong finish in his final college season.

“He’s worked really hard, and he’s been preparing for this situation. He’ll be fine,” Maggette said. “I think he’s very mature and can handle that type of pressure.

“The biggest thing he just needs to do is concentrate on Al, concentrate on the way you’re capable of playing, don’t get over yourself. Just have fun and enjoy it. This is a blessing.”

For Thornton, the biggest blessing will be a good night’s sleep.

He earned it. And he will need it to prepare for the busy nights to come, when he will be asked to do even more than he did on Friday.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.