Clippers’ loss has flagrant scent

Mike Dunleavy rapped his knuckles against his desk, hoping for the best, but reluctantly accepting the situation.

He talked of his ambitious hopes down the road if his team can stay healthy, knocking on wood several times in an attempt to ward off bad luck.

It may be time to move on to horseshoes, rabbit’s feet or four-leaf clovers.

Playing without leading scorer Corey Maggette and rookie Al Thornton and then losing Quinton Ross, the undermanned Clippers were overwhelmed by the Chicago Bulls in a testy 92-73 loss at Staples Center with an unannounced undercard of Andres Nocioni against the Clippers’ front line.

The Clippers are 5-4, but they’re heading in the wrong direction, losing four out of their last five games.

“It was a tough game for us,” Dunleavy said. “Our smalls were depleted.”

They now brace for their toughest week thus far, hosting the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, traveling to play the Phoenix Suns on Friday and returning to play the New Orleans Hornets the next day. The three teams are a combined 24-7.

Chris Kaman scored 21 points and collected eight rebounds to lead the Clippers, who used their fifth starting lineup and scored a season-low in points on 39.4% shooting.

“We just didn’t have enough,” Kaman said afterward.

While the Clippers are aching, other teams are getting healthy against them.

For a second consecutive night, a team obtained a first against them. The Bulls notched their first road victory after Golden State won its first game against the Clippers on Friday.

Ben Gordon scored 25 points, Nocioni added 21 points and Ben Wallace took eight offensive rebounds.

The Clippers beat the Bulls, 97-91, on Nov. 6, a game in which Cuttino Mobley dumped in 33 points while posting up the smaller Kirk Hinrich.

Mobley, still recovering from a strained right groin, did not score until 1:27 left in the first half when he made two free throws.

Tim Thomas made two three-point shots, one he converted into a four-point play, in the last minute just to narrow the halftime score to an 11-point Bulls’ edge. Chicago outscored the Clippers 24-8 in the paint in the first half, with things getting sticky midway in the second quarter.

Ruben Patterson, jostling for position with Nocioni, bumped hard into the Bulls defender. Nocioni retaliated by collaring Patterson around his neck, picking up a flagrant foul.

“He should have got kicked out the game for that,” Patterson said. “He went straight for my face. He’s known as a dirty player.”

Patterson approached Nocioni afterward, earning a technical foul, but was restrained by Kaman.

“I made a hard foul because he hit me with his elbow twice,” Nocioni said.

Less than a minute later, Thomas picked up his own flagrant foul when he forearmed a driving Nocioni.

“I was always taught, you get hit, you hit back,” Thomas said.

Dunleavy said there were better ways to respond, such as aggressive boxing out.

“It was a cheap flagrant foul if there is such a thing,” he said. “It was like, ‘Why even bother?’ ”

In the third, Kaman picked up his own flagrant on Nocioni, fouling him from behind. Kaman said he would protest the foul with the league.

Maggette and Thornton, both injured at Golden State, are expected to miss at least a couple of games. Ross banged his knee Saturday and did not return.

The Clippers are already dealing with serious injuries to Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston.

“That’s part of the game,” General Manager Elgin Baylor said. “Clubs have injuries, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com

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Sidelined

Elton Brand, torn Achilles’ tendon

Shaun Livingston, dislocated left knee

Corey Maggette, strained right hamstring

Al Thornton, sprained right ankle

Source: NBA.com