[0] CLIPPERS CAN'T LOSE THIS TIME : DEPLETED MAVS CAUGHT IN DISARRAY CLIPPERS 87, DALLAS 69.

Byline: Gary Washburn Daily News Staff Writer

Disorganized, lethargic and confused.

And the Clippers haven't made a roster move all season.

Against the remanufactured Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, the Clippers played a stinker that was barely acceptable to NBA standards.

But luckily, the Mavericks had just eight players suited up a day after making the biggest trade in team history and were essentially an NBA pickup team. Example: The starting center was Greg Dreiling.

With neither of the four acquired Dallas players available, the Clippers (21-27) were able to get away with a shabby performance, beating the Mavericks 87-69 in front of an announced crowd of 6,592 at the Sports Arena.

The Mavericks (17-32) at least had an excuse. They had no starters left from 10 days ago and presented minimal resistance. However, the Clippers obliged by playing as awful as possible.

The Clippers committed 23 turnovers and had just three players score in double figures. Malik Sealy finished with 23 points, but no other Clipper appeared interested.

The win broke a two-game losing streak, but it came against a team barely surviving until Thursday when Ed O'Bannon and the other ex-Nets join the club.

The Clippers committed 13 turnovers in the first half and scored just 41 points, thanks to some embarrassing sequences in which they could barely run an offensive play.

The Clippers owned a 41-29 lead with 3:20 left in the quarter and had seven chances to extend it. They didn't, missing their last 10 shots and going into halftime with a 41-32 lead - and it shouldn't have been that close.

Regardless of the opponent, it was a key game heading into a three-game East Coast swing. The road has become rough for the Clippers, who have dropped five straight away from the Sports Arena.

Could it be called a match between stability and instability? The Clippers have 10 players on the roster that were on the team last season.

Dallas has none.

Of the five Dallas starters, the most experienced Maverick was Derek Harper, who had an entire 47 games in blue and green under his belt after coming over from New York in the offseason.

Harper scored 17 points for Dallas while Michael Finley led the Mavs with 18.

Neither A.C. Green, Sasha Danilovic nor Finley have been with the Mavericks two months. General manager Don Nelson took mere days to trade away a team that had a shot at the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the old Mavericks couldn't get along and were major disappointments, four games out of a playoff spot with immense talent - including the departed Jim Jackson, Chris Gatling and Sam Cassell.

Clippers coach Bill Fitch was concerned about newly acquired Danilovic, who burned his team in the Miami Heat's blowout of the Clippers in November, and Martin Muursepp, who also came over in the trade for Jamal Mashburn.

``I don't even want to think about the road trip,'' Fitch said. ``Every game worries me. I just want to take it one at a time and beat this team.''

Don't expect the Clippers to be nearly as active as Dallas in the next 48 hours before the trade deadline. The club has six guards and wouldn't mind dealing one - preferably Terry Dehere or Eric Piatkowski - for a quality center.

Fitch said the phone hasn't been ringing off the hook from teams with interest.

``We would like to do something to help ourselves by trade or otherwise,'' Fitch said. ``We'd like to get a big man, somebody to help (Lorenzen Wright).''

A quick solution was activating Dwayne Schintzius, who has played just eight games all season. The Clippers would like to do better than that.

There's also the possibility of signing a free-agent center.

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Photo, Box

Photo: (color) Erick Strickland, left, battles for the ball with the Clippers' Lorenzen Wright.

Evan Yee / Daily News

Box: CLIPPERS BOX