CLIPPERS DEFLECT BULLETS\Vaught scores 22; team is 'maturing'.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Loy Vaught Loy Stephen Vaught (born February 27, 1968 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is a retired American basketball player who spent ten seasons in the NBA, primarily with the Los Angeles Clippers. knows the playoffs are, at best, a distant hope. But he likes what he's seen lately from his Clippers teammates. Vaught had a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Clippers beat the Washington Bullets 92-89 Friday night for their fourth victory in six games. "We're maturing. Everything's on schedule," said Vaught, noting that the Clippers are 2-1 on a five-game trip, their longest of the season. "This is a learning process." The Clippers had lost seven of eight on the road. Rodney Rogers Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who last played power forward for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Rogers played college basketball at Wake Forest University from 1990 until 1993. scored 20 points, including a spinning baseline layup with 16.8 seconds left in the game that broke an 89-89 tie. Pooh Richardson Jerome "Pooh" Richardson (born May 14 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. The 6'1" point guard was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the tenth overall pick of the 1989 NBA Draft out of UCLA. added 15 points, including the first six of a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter that erased a 71-68 Washington advantage. "Anytime you win two games on a road trip, you've got to be happy," said Clippers coach Bill Fitch William Fitch (born May 19 1934 in Davenport, Iowa) is a former NBA coach who has been successful in making teams playoff contenders throughout his coaching career. Before entering the professional ranks he coached college ball at the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State . "We're happy to get this one, because we felt going in that Washington was the toughest of the teams we were going to play." Juwan Howard Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is a former All-Star and All-NBA power forward and was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' "Fab Five" (along and Calbert Cheaney Calbert Nathaniel Cheaney (born July 17 1971 in Evansville, Indiana) is a veteran basketball player in the NBA currently a free agent. He was selected 6th overall by the Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA Draft. His last team was the Golden State Warriors in the 2005-06 season. each scored 20 points for the Bullets, who had won four straight and nine of 12 against the Clippers. Cheaney had seven points during Washington's fourth-quarter comeback, but his bid to tie the game at 91 on a 15-foot jumper missed, as did his 3-point try at the buzzer. Earlier, Cheaney hit a pair of free throws with 29.6 seconds left, tying the game 89-89. Brent Price added 15 points for the Bullets. Washington's bench was outscored 21-9. "It's a game we needed big time," said coach Jim Lynam, whose Bullets are 10th in the Eastern Conference and fighting for the final playoff spot. "We needed somebody off the bench to step up. We needed somebody to score, somebody to give us an offensive boost." Rogers had 10 points in the first period, and the Clippers used an 8-0 run at the end of the quarter to sprint to a 32-23 lead. Terry Dehere hit a pair of 3-pointers during the spurt. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Washington's Rasheed Wallace, left, knocks the ball away from Stanley Roberts of the visiting Clippers in the second half. Associated Press |
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