Cutting their losses

The Clippers expected a battle, the kind that comes from a team desperate for a win. But they have their own demons to conquer too.

The road still is not a comfortable place for the Clippers. They are still young, and still inexperienced. Their young power forward still is learning how to shoulder the burdens that come with being the team’s star.

And it was too much to counter Friday, as the Clippers became the first team to fall to Cleveland in 27 games.

The Clippers’ 126-119 overtime stumble to the Cavaliers came with an unexpected battle between two young and talented players and with some controversy as officials decided against making a goaltending call when Cavaliers big man J.J. Hickson blocked a Baron Davis jump shot that would have won the game for L.A. at the regulation buzzer.

Afterward, Blake Griffin, who led the Clippers with 32 points and 13 rebounds and took out four courtside chairs at Quicken Loans Arena when he dove for a loose ball at the start of the second half, was disconsolate.

“That was the worst home-court advantage I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“There’s such a thing as home-court advantage, but that was unbelievable.”

The Cavaliers needed any help they could get as they were fighting to avoid the infamy of owning the longest losing streak in U.S. major professional sports. The last time they won was a Dec. 18 overtime triumph over the New York Knicks, and their 26 consecutive losses equaled the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ losing streak set in 1976-77.

With a Cleveland crowd desperate to glimpse a victory for the first time in 55 days, the arena turned as raucous as if it were the NBA Finals when the Cavaliers finally pulled ahead late in the fourth quarter.

Hickson scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth, and had three blocks -- including a powerful one as Griffin attempted to slam down a dunk that would have cut Cleveland’s lead to four points.

But Hickson’s biggest block came at the buzzer, as he swatted away Davis’ game-winning attempt with the score tied, 110-110.

In overtime, the Clippers had a lead only once as the Cavaliers capitalized on momentum and nine points from Daniel Gibson in the extra period.

So frustrated was Davis at the end that he earned an ejection for arguing with referees with 13 seconds remaining.

“For a team that’s lost 26 games in a row, they came out like they wanted to win,” Davis said. “Not saying we didn’t. It was just going to be one of those knockout, drag-out games. They made big plays at the end, and really, we didn’t. The best thing to do is just to congratulate them on a victory. I just didn’t want to see them celebrate, so I got kicked out of the game.”

The Clippers now are 4-19 on the road, and have lost five of their last six games.

“They’ve struggled, everyone knows,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said of the Cavaliers. “But it’s not like we’ve killed anyone on the road. We have a lot of growing to do ourselves.”

sports@latimes.com