No Tired Excuses for Clippers in Defeat

SACRAMENTO —  What’s the reward for a heart-pounding, buzzer-beating double-overtime victory over the Miami Heat?

For the Clippers, it was a late-night flight to Sacramento.

They arrived a little before 2 a.m. Saturday, about three hours after Corey Maggette beat the Heat with a last-second fallaway jumper and about 17 hours before they lined up against the Sacramento Kings in Arco Arena.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the Clippers didn’t have quite enough left to contain a red-hot Chris Webber and they lost on Saturday night to the Kings, 99-95.

Webber scored 36 points in front of a sellout crowd of 17,317, helping the Kings to their sixth consecutive victory over the Clippers, who have lost 13 in a row at Sacramento since last winning in Arco Arena on Nov. 7, 1997.

“There was definitely some fatigue involved,” forward Elton Brand said after the Clippers had lost for the sixth time in their last seven road games. “Guys were tired, of course, but we came and played hard. You can’t blame anything on fatigue. It’s the nature of the league.”

The Clippers overcame an early eight-point deficit and led by a point at halftime.

They again led by a point late in the third quarter before the Kings hit them with a 9-0 run sparked by newcomer Cuttino Mobley.

Though never too far behind, the Clippers never led again after that, Peja Stojakovic wrapping up the Kings’ third consecutive victory by making four consecutive free throws in the last nine seconds.

“We hit a couple of rough stretches where we just weren’t making shots,” Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy said, “but other than that I liked our effort and how hard we played. We did a lot of good things.”

Brand, who played 53 minutes Friday night, logged another 39 and led the Clippers with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Bobby Simmons had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Maggette scored 14, but missed nine of 13 shots. Chris Kaman made 11 of 17 and scored a career-high 23 points.

“We’ve been pushing him and pushing him about being more aggressive and playing the kind of game he can play,” Dunleavy said of Kaman.

“He’s been getting a better understanding of what we want and he’s been doing a much better job.”

Stojakovic scored 24 points and Mobley, making his King debut after a trade last week that sent Doug Christie to the Orlando Magic, scored 13.

Webber made 16 of 25 shots.

“When he’s stroking the ball like that, he’s a monster,” Dunleavy said of Webber, who also had 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals. “He was tough.”

After outlasting the Heat on Friday, the Clippers seemed almost buoyant beforehand, more focused than fatigued despite their late night.

“You’ve got a lot of positive emotions going for you,” Dunleavy said. “You’re coming off a big win. Your focus is not the travel plans and everything else. It’s more about the good things you did the night before.

“There’s more of a positive vibe, and I think you can bounce off that. We’re thinking about keeping a winning streak going as opposed to, ‘Hey, I got in here at 2 o’clock last night, I’m dying, my body’s hurting.’ ”

Said veteran Kerry Kittles: “It’s a lot easier because you’re feeling good about yourself because you were able to pull out a tough game.”

On the other hand, the former New Jersey Net shooting guard noted, “We had a similar situation last year in the playoffs. Obviously, it’s a different situation but it’s similar in the sense that you play a tough game and then you have to come back and follow it up.

“We played Detroit triple-overtime and when we got back home we were emotionally drained even though we had won. We were unable to win Game 6. It just takes a lot out of you when you’re playing that long.”