Trip Ends Badly for Clippers

CLEVELAND — And now this: a clunker against the NBA’s weakest team to end what once looked like a promising four-game trip, a journey that might have turned the Clippers’ season toward something more significant than playing out the string.

The Clippers have continued to repeat their late lapses so often, and against so many grateful opponents, that it has become their method of operation.

They went to their signature move again Monday, falling apart down the stretch during a 104-100 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers before an announced crowd of 9,059 at Gund Arena that was perhaps only half that on a frigid night.

The Cavaliers, last in the Central Division, ended a six-game losing streak and won for only the ninth time in 45 games. The Clippers, last in the Pacific Division, have lost three in a row after ending a 31-game losing streak against the Jazz at Utah.

Ricky Davis scored 32 points for Cleveland, making the go-ahead jump shot from just to the left of the free-throw line with nine seconds to play. He also had 10 rebounds and eight assists.

With the Cavaliers ahead, 101-100, Cleveland’s Dajuan Wagner blocked Andre Miller’s jumper with 4.4 seconds left.

The Clippers play good basketball when the games are new and the pressure is not on. Then they wilt late, when each possession and each decision is more meaningful.

It happened again in the fourth quarter of a tight game Monday.

With the Clippers ahead, 87-84, after Elton Brand’s hook shot with 6:34 left, they soon lost control.

The Cavaliers surged, the Clippers went 2 1/2 minutes without scoring and trailed, 92-87, after Chris Mihm’s 15-foot jump shot.

Corey Maggette’s three-point basket ended the Clippers’ drought, but their momentum was history. Maggette would match his career high with 34 points, but foul trouble limited his effectiveness late.

“I really don’t know,” he said when asked about the Clippers’ inability to hold leads and maintain their composure down the stretch.

“I think we just took it for granted tonight. It’s our fault. You’ve got to give credit to Ricky Davis. He made some tough shots. Me and Q [Quentin Richardson] were in foul trouble and we couldn’t guard him the way we wanted to.”

Davis scored 17 of Cleveland’s 29 points in the fourth quarter, so it wasn’t a surprise where the Cavaliers were going with the ball as they rallied from an 80-75 deficit.

Davis made five of eight shots and seven free throws, eluding Clipper defenders on the perimeter and overshadowing Miller’s return to Gund Arena.

“I wasn’t even thinking about that,” Miller said after scoring eight points on two-for-11 shooting with five assists during his first appearance at Cleveland since he was dealt to the Clippers for Darius Miles last summer. “I was trying to win the game.”

The Clippers desperately needed a strong trip, instead of 1-3 one. Splitting four games was acceptable. Winning three out of four or a sweep would have been preferable, particularly with the Chicago Bulls up next at Staples Center.

Time is short for the Clippers, whose 16-28 record merely makes them the NBA’s top last-place team. There’s no question that injuries have played a part in the team’s poor standing in the Pacific, and it was again an issue Monday.

Center Michael Olowokandi returned after sitting out three games because of a bruised right thigh, suffered last week when Laker center Shaquille O’Neal kneed him. Lamar Odom could not play, however, sitting out because his right ankle, the one he sprained so severely last season, was sore.

Not once in 44 games this season has Coach Alvin Gentry had his top 12 players healthy for the same game.

“It’s the most frustrating year that I have ever had in coaching,” he said. “You think you’re going to have a whole team and you don’t. You miss a guy here, a guy there. We’ve spent 44 games trying to redefine roles and put guys in different roles and play different rotations.”