CLIPPERS DON'T MISS OUT ON WIN THEY ROUT MAGIC WITHOUT INJURED STARS CLIPPERS 90, ORLANDO 73.

Byline: Joe Stevens Staff Writer

No Elton Brand.

No Corey Maggette.

No problem.

Playing without their top scoring duo of Brand and Maggette, the Clippers put together a complete team effort and were assisted by an ugly performance by the Orlando Magic for a 90-73 victory in front of 15,019 Tuesday night at Staples Center.

``It was one of those games in which nobody went off,'' Clippers center Chris Kaman said. ``Nobody had 30 points or anything like that. It was a total team game, and that's what we needed to have with Elton out.''

Orlando's 73 points were the lowest by any opponent against the Clippers this season, and though the Clippers couldn't take full credit for the Magic's miserable performance, they could take some of the credit.

``I think our defense had something to do with it,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. ``We had really high deflection numbers, and for the most part, we stayed in front of people. We paid a whole lot of attention to Dwight Howard, and it was good to keep him at bay.''

The Clippers had lost nine of 12 games, before pounding the Magic. They completed the second contest of a seven-game home stand and hope to notch a few short-handed wins and look more like the team that started the season 14-5.

But one big problem with the rest of the home stand is that all of their remaining opponents have better records than the Magic, and two of the Western Conference's top teams, Phoenix and Dallas, are coming to town.

Against the Magic, Cuttino Mobley scored on a nifty move to the basket with 7:40 to play to give the Clippers a 77-64 lead. After that, the Clippers had relative smooth sailing with Orlando never getting closer than nine points in the final eight minutes.

Mobley led the Clippers with 18 points, but had an off night shooting, going 5 of 18. But he outplayed his best friend and former teammate, Steve Francis, who was held to 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting.

``We knew we had to concentrate on Steve,'' Mobley said. ``He's not an easy guy to stop. He definitely is hard to hold to 10 points. We know each other so well. That's why I had a tough night, too. He knew my moves, and I knew his.''

In addition to Mobley, the Clippers also got solid performances from the rest of their starters.

All the other starters, except for Chris Wilcox, scored in double figures. But Wilcox, who started in place of Brand at power forward, grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and added five points.

Wilcox's saga with the Clippers has been up-and-down throughout Dunleavy's three-year tenure as coach. Frequently, the forward is relegated to the bench because of his lack of rebounding. By notching 14 rebounds, he showed that he is capable of pleasing his coach.

``I know what I got to do to stay on the court,'' Wilcox said. ``I'm going to go out there with the attitude that I got to get rebounds and help our team win the game. We struggled the last few games getting offensive rebounds, and I just wanted to give us a lift.''

If Wilcox thrived in his starting role, then James Singleton also thrived as a reserve with nine points and 11 rebounds in 21 rebounds. Like Wilcox, Singleton has had spotty playing time, but he made the most of it on Tuesday.

In addition, when Orlando pulled to six points early in the fourth quarter, Singleton had two spectacular plays - a putback dunk then a steal and fast-break dunk.

As for contributing, despite having erratic playing time, Singleton said, ``It's always tough, but life is tough. You get a lot of curveballs, and it depends on how you handle them. And I'm pretty good with handling stressful situations. It's just my first year, so my time will come.''

Joe Stevens, [phone]

joe.stevens(at)presstelegram.com

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Photo:

The Clippers' Chris Kaman, background, blocks a shot attempt by Orlando's Steve Francis in the first half of Tuesday's game.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer