Frustration Builds as Clippers’ Losing Skid Reaches Nine

INDIANAPOLIS — Problems, problems, problems. The Clippers have plenty of them.

Not only did they lose their ninth consecutive game, a 108-90 defeat to Indiana Saturday night, but Chris Ford received his first technical foul in 69 games as Clipper coach.

It has gotten that bad.

Ford’s frustration hit a high point late in the third quarter when a call went against the Clippers and referee Luis Grillo had a quick whistle waiting for Ford in front of a sellout crowd of 18,345 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

After Ford’s technical, the officials appeared to give the Clippers a break but by then it was too late. Indiana defeated the Clippers for the 12th time in a row and extended its longest winning streak of the season to six with six players scoring in double figures, led by Reggie Miller’s 26 points.

“[Ford’s technical] was not much of a surprise because he’s really been into it,” said Clipper center Michael Olowokandi, who had a team-high 21 points and 13 rebounds. “You could tell he’s giving everything by trying so many different things to get us going.

“A couple of months ago, we thought we had it made, but obviously we are still at the experimental stage. We seem to be having a different lineup every single time because he’s trying to work out something.

The Clippers (4-16), playing the finale of a three-game trip, opened with their eighth different starting lineup.

Rookie Lamar Odom gained his first start at point guard with Derek Anderson moving to shooting guard. Maurice Taylor moved from power forward to shooting forward, Brian Skinner started at power forward, and Olowokandi remained at center.

The changes made the Clippers more competitive than they have been throughout their losing streak, despite Odom not having his best game, finishing with eight points on three of 14 shooting.

“They’re a basketball team with loads and loads of talent,” Indiana veteran point guard Mark Jackson said about his former team. “I don’t know what piece they are missing but they’re missing one right now and it’s probably just some experience.

“But when you put a guy like Lamar Odom out there, you’re going to have a chance because he’s a special basketball player. He cares about winning and that’s rare with a lot of these young guys these days. He has a tremendous future ahead and I would love to have a piece of stock in him.”

Indiana (13-7), which made 11 more free throws, never trailed. The Clippers stayed close throughout until late in the fourth quarter.

The Pacers started as if they were going to blow the Clippers off the court, jumping to a 15-7 lead with center Rik Smits doing most of the damage. The Clippers rallied to close the first quarter and trailed, 23-22.

The second quarter belonged to the Pacer bench, headed by 38-year old Sam Perkins and 19-year old Al Harrington, who combined for 17 points in the quarter. The Clippers scored 24 points but gave up 36 points. Indiana made 57.1% of its shots to break the game open.

Indiana stretched its lead to 16 points in the third quarter before the Clippers rallied after Ford’s technical to cut the Pacer lead to 79-71 entering the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Miller took over, scoring 11 points, including two three-point baskets.

“We did an awful lot of good things, but we are so young and inexperienced,” Ford said. “We make costly mistakes at the wrong time, hoping everyone is in the right spot. But when you have 14 turnovers for 26 points against their 13 turnovers for 15 points, there is something wrong. It is just very tough for us to get it all together for one evening of basketball.”

Had the Clippers given the effort they did against the Pacers in games at Atlanta and Detroit, their losing streak could be history.

“The difference was flow,” said Odom, who added seven assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots. “[The Pacers] have been playing together forever. It’s just our flow offensively and defensively giving us problems. We played better defensively but we just missed shots we should make. For us to win against Indiana, we needed to play close to a perfect game and we didn’t do that.”