Clippers tumble below .500 mark

SACRAMENTO â€”  Brave new Clippers world. So far, it’s indistinguishable from the old one.

Even in an era in which a .500 start is disappointing and their coach can get a $20-million extension in the middle of a losing streak, some things are the same. The Clippers, who had lost 16 in a row here dating to 1997, made it 17 Tuesday night, shooting 30.6% in a 93-80 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

For the Clippers, it was a night devoted to losing streaks. This also made 14 in a row to the Kings, here and in Staples Center, and five in a row this season after their 6-2 start, dropping the Clippers under .500 for the first time.

“It’s hard to win a game when you shoot 30%,� said Coach Mike Dunleavy. “ ... That’s the name of the game, you’ve got to put the ball in this basket.�

It wasn’t the name of this game for the Clippers. Aside from Shaun Livingston, who scored a season-high 20 points, making 10 of his 16 shots, the rest of the team took 82 shots and missed 62 of them.

Corey Maggette came off the bench to go 0 for 9 from the field.

Tim Thomas was four for 18.

Elton Brand was four for 15.

Quinton Ross was one for seven, including consecutive mid-range airballs.

James Singleton was 0 for 5.

Add it up and it was just another night in Arco Arena, where they have had so many. The last time the Clippers won here was Nov. 17, 1997, in the fourth game of a season in which they would go 17-65.

A Democrat was in the White House. Bill Fitch was the Clippers coach, meaning five of them (Fitch, Chris Ford, Jim Todd, Alvin Gentry, Dennis Johnson) have come and gone during the streak. These days, Clippers nightmares come in the Kings’ colors of purple and black.

“They’ve been tough on us,� said Dunleavy, 0-13 against the Kings as Clippers coach, before the game.

“Last year they weren’t in the playoffs and I made the comment, ‘If I could drop two teams out, one in the East and one in the West, I would drop out this team and Miami.’

“As far as anybody else was concerned, I felt pretty good about us having a chance to beat those teams. I mean, we’ll give all those teams a real good series.�

The most troublesome King has been Mike Bibby and he was again Tuesday, taking control after Cuttino Mobley finally got two consecutive three-pointers to drop to help the Clippers come from 10 points back and tie the score, 76-76, with 8:50 left.

Bibby started running high pick-and-rolls with center Brad Miller. On the first when Brand moved toward Bibby, he passed to Miller, who made a 21-footer.

On the second, the defense went with Miller and Bibby knocked in an 18-footer.

At the other end, Maggette missed from 22 feet. The Kings got the rebound and ran it back the other way, with Miller, the trailer, making a three-pointer over a late-recovering Singleton.

That made it 83-76, with 6:48 to play. With the Clippers in the process of missing 17 of their last 18 shots from the time it was 76-76, the outcome was never again in doubt.

Livingston, who started in place of the injured Sam Cassel, began the game with a 6.3 scoring average, shooting 37%. At least as far as he was concerned, this was a breakout.

“I thought I did a poor job tonight, getting my teammates involved,� he said. “We only had four assists. We missed a lot of easy shots but I’m still the point guard. It’s my job to establish everybody else before I establish myself.�

The Clippers will settle for anything they can establish against the Kings. For the last nine years here, that’s as much as they could expect.

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Victory row

Sacramento beat the Clippers for the 14th consecutive time Tuesday. The league’s longest current winning streaks over the same opponent:

*--* Streak Team Opponent 18 Dallas New Orleans 17 San Antonio Boston 14 Sacramento Clippers 13 Chicago Toronto 11 Dallas Portland

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Source: NBAmedia.com