SOMETHING MISSING IN CLIPPERS' LOSS WITHOUT KAMAN, MAGGETTE, L.A. IS NO MATCH FOR SAN ANTONIO SAN ANTONIO 103, CLIPPERS 81.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND Staff Writer

Just the thought of playing San Antonio again might have been enough to make any Clipper feel ill.

A stomach virus, not any type of anxiety, felled Clippers center Chris Kaman and kept him out Monday's game against the Spurs, and sixth man Corey Maggette sat out with a bruised left knee.

So just three days after their 29-point beatdown in San Antonio, the shorthanded Clippers faced the Spurs again and hoped for the best. Instead they got the worst, or pretty close to it, as the Spurs clobbered the Clippers again and earned a 103-81 victory in front of 18,147 at Staples Center.

It's worse than it seems. Sam Cassell didn't play in the second half and after the game was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, a painful, often long- term ailment caused by tissue inflammation in the foot.

``The great thing about last year,'' Clippers forward Elton Brand said, ``is that when guys went down with injuries, other guys stepped up. Now, even the guys who need to step up are injured.

``It's a tough time for us right now. We're up and down.''

Kaman should return Wednesday against Utah, but Maggette is questionable at best for that game. Maggette injured his knee in Saturday's victory over Memphis and is considered day to day.

Reserve forward Tim Thomas was limited to four minutes because of an injured right index finger.

So the Clippers needed their best in order to hang with the Spurs, but didn't get anything close. The Spurs built a 16-point lead after less than eight minutes and the Clippers missed 10 of their first 13shots.

San Antonio got a typically balanced effort, led by Brent Barry (24 points), Tony Parker (21 points) and Manu Ginobili (18 points).

Paul Davis led the Clippers in scoring with 15 points, and Brand had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

All the drama was gone early, except to see if the Spurs could top Friday's 111-82 victory over the Clippers. By halftime, the Spurs led 59-42 and already had four players in double figures in points.

San Antonio led by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

``We needed to respond to that shellacking at their place,'' Brand said, ``and we didn't do it.''

The Clippers did little to stop the Spurs' backcourt. With the big men, particularly Tim Duncan and Francisco Elson, moving the ball effectively in the post, San Antonio's guards thrived. In the first half, Ginobili, Parker and Barry combined to make 12 of 18 shots for 37 points.

Health and timing both conspired against the Clippers on Monday.

The Spurs spent the previous night stewing in Los Angeles after a seven- point loss to the Lakers and figured to be a tad bit motivated.

``(The Spurs) have been playing with each other forever, it seems like,'' Clippers guard Shaun Livingston said. ``It makes it tough to beat them. You have to have an efficient game because if you have any lapses in your game, in 48 minutes, they're going to beat you.''

Duncan, held to 16 points against the Lakers and outplayed in stretches by teenager Andrew Bynum, turned into a facilitator against the Clippers and burned them with his passing. Duncan had six assists in the game's first six minutes and finished with an efficient line of 17 points, on 7-of-10 shooting.

Before the end of the first quarter, the Clippers had already rotated little-used reserves Davis and Daniel Ewing into the game and shown that they would offer little resistance.

The Lakers had succeeded a night earlier by forcing the Spurs into turnovers, but SanAntonio improved its ball movement greatly and got a series of open looks that buried the Clippers early.

San Antonio made eight of its first 11 shots and opened a 23-7 lead with 4:19 left in the first quarter.

The Clippers stabilized late in the second quarter and made eight of their last 10 shots to take some momentum into halftime, and that carried over to a strong effort in the opening minutes of the third.

Cuttino Mobley's dunk cut the Clippers' deficit to 63-50 three minutes into the third quarter, but the Spurs scored the next six points. Parker scored 11 in the period and the Spurs pulled away again.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Clippers forward Elton Brand shoots over San Antonio's Bruce Bowen during Monday's game at Staples Center.

(2) Sam Cassell complains about a non-call to an official during the Clippers' loss to SanAntonio. Cassell had just two points in 10 minutes.

(3) The Clippers' Quinton Ross, left, challenges San Antonio's Michael Finley as he goes up for a shot.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer