CLIPPERS BLOW YET ANOTHER LEAD PORTLAND 97, CLIPPERS 93.

Byline: Joe Stevens Staff Writer

A fourth-quarter collapse.

An ugly loss.

Self-destruction.

It all happened to the Clippers again Wednesday night when they lost a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in a 97-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in front of 16,194 at Staples Center.

What had plagued the Clippers for the majority of November - fourth- quarter woes - sneaked back with six shopping days until Christmas. And mentally, it all boiled down to this: a false sense of security.

``That's it,'' Clippers guard Marko Jaric said. ``We had a couple easy wins, and we relaxed too much. We thought the game was going to come to us, and it didn't. We started missing shots, and we lost our confidence.''

In the fourth quarter, the only thing more difficult to find than Clippers confidence was a Clippers field goal.

With a big scoring drought in the fourth, the Clippers were outscored 30-16 in the final quarter. They got a field goal with 6:42 left when Keyon Dooling made a 3-point shot, and they didn't get another one until Dooling got a consolation layup with 6.9 seconds left.

The Clippers led 81-67 with 11:15 left when center Michael Olowokandi made a turnaround jump shot. But after that, it was trouble.

They shot just 4 of 15 (26.7 percent) in the fourth quarter and watched Portland steal a victory.

``Like I've always said, the least you can do is preserve your lead,'' Olowokandi said. ``If you don't score, you have to play defense and not allow them to come back.''

When Dooling made his 3-point shot with 6:42 left, the Clippers led 87-77. But Portland finished the game with a 20-6 run.

The Blazers tied it at 87 when Bonzi Wells made a 3-point shot with 4:46 left and then took the lead for good when Rasheed Wallace made 1 of 2 free throws with 2:24 to play.

That was in the midst of a 15-0 run by the Blazers, who took a 92-87 lead with 1:15 left when Dale Davis scored on a goaltending call. After that, the Clippers never had a possession with the chance to tie it.

``I'm disappointed in that we've been playing really good basketball, and we haven't had one of these games, where we've been up in the fourth quarter and let it slip away, for a while,'' Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. ``Once again, its a home loss. We don't have time to sulk about it.''

Quentin Richardson scored a season-high 24 points, including 18 in the second quarter, and Andre Miller added 25 points and six assists to lead the Clippers (11-15). Richardson made five 3-point shots in the second quarter, which tied Norm Nixon for the team high in a quarter.

But both of the Clippers' key big men - Olowokandi and Elton Brand - were held well under their season's averages. Olowokandi had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Brand had 10 points and four rebounds.

Wells had 30 points and nine rebounds, and Wallace had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Blazers (13-11).

To make matters worse for the Clippers, their former point guard, Jeff McInnis, returned to town to score a season-high 17 points in just 17 minutes. McInnis shot 8 of 12 and also had four assists.

To make matters more worse, Miller went down with 11:40 left in the second quarter when he bumped into McInnis. Miller re-aggravated a high left-ankle sprain, but he returned to action and missed only four minutes of action. However, he had a slight limp throughout the game.

``What's done is done,'' Gentry said about the loss. ``It's a hell of a black eye for us.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Kenyon Dooling and the Clippers blew another game in the fourth-quarter, this time to Portland.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

Box:

GAME RECAP