HITTING NEW LOW; CLIPPERS HELP NUGGETS END LOSING STREAK AT 23 : DENVER 99 CLIPPERS 81.

Byline: Scott Wolf Daily News Staff Writer

The Denver Nuggets may be on pace to become the worst team in NBA history, but they proved Saturday night that it's still better than being the league's worst franchise.

How else to explain the simply awful effort put forth by the Clippers in an embarrassing 99-81 loss to the hapless Nuggets, who were thrilled to snap their 23-game losing streak?

The Nuggets had not won since Dec. 7, when they defeated, uh, let's see, the Clippers.

L.A. (10-33) now holds the dubious honor of accounting for two of Denver's three victories.

``Quite an embarrassing loss for us,'' said Clippers forward Eric Piatkowski, who said it was probably the worst loss of his four-year career. ``It's terrible. Right now, I don't feel a lot better than Denver. They played with a lot of emotion and we didn't. They outplayed us in every aspect of the game.''

The Clippers' performance was so uninspired that a Sports Arena crowd of 7,614 soundly booed the home team several times in the second and third quarters.

``It's one of the worst games we've played,'' Clippers coach Bill Fitch said. ``If we play many games like we did tonight, we'll get our own streak going.''

The Nuggets arrived in Los Angeles just in time to avoid setting the NBA record for most losses in a single season. The Cleveland Cavaliers own the record for most consecutive losses, 24, over two seasons from March 19 to Nov. 5 in 1982.

Denver (3-38) also threatened to shatter the professional sports record for consecutive losses of 26 set by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976-77.

Instead, Denver will merely tie the 1995-96 Vancouver Grizzlies for most losses in a single season.

``Thank God almighty, it's sure nice to win a game,'' Denver coach Bill Hanzlik said. ``Tonight was the first night we put everything together.''

``We didn't want to be part of that Guiness Book of World Records,'' rookie Danny Fortson added.

Denver knew even before the contest that it had a nice shot at avoiding the record. The Nuggets defeated the Clippers, 100-92, in Denver and barely lost, 105-103, at the Sports Arena.

``I think one thing is we have trouble putting the ball in the hoop and the Clippers aren't a great defensive team,'' Hanzlik said.

Fitch, who coached against the NBA's worst all-time team, the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers who went 9-73, said the Nuggets were a much better team.

``This team is a lot better than that Sixer team,'' Fitch said. ``That team had a lot of older players. They're a young team that will play hard every night.''

Unfortunately for the Nuggets, they only play the Clippers one more time this season, so they could yet make NBA history.

Fitch has more pressing problems, namely his own struggling team, which has dropped eight of its past nine games.

``I feel for my own guys. What we're going through isn't a picnic,'' Fitch said. ``Denver has more ants at the picnic.''

The Clippers were pretty much outplayed from the outset. After jumping out to a 7-2 lead, the Clippers were outscored 17-2 and the Nuggets never looked back.

The disaster reached its peak in the fourth quarter, when Denver opened up a 26-point advantage (83-57).

Denver had six players in double figures, including reserve point guard Anthony Goldwire, who 20 points.

Darrick Martin led the Clippers with 14 points while Piatkowski added 13. L.A. shot just 37 percent from the field, and scored just 15 points in the first-and-third quarters.

Notes: Clippers guard Brent Barry did not suit up for the game, bothered by a chronically sore left heel. He is listed as day-to-day. Because of the injury, Pooh Richardson made his first appearance in six games and scored two points in 13 minutes.

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