SONICS LOWER BOOM : CLIPPERS SQUANDER SUPRISING LEAD SEATTLE 102, CLIPPERS 86.

Byline: Gary Washburn Daily News Staff Writer

Clippers coach Bill Fitch stared at his club between the third and fourth quarters in silence.

Could the Clippers turn that bad so quickly? In Seattle, the Clippers' personal land of nightmares, the answer was yes.

What do you say to a team that watched a three-point lead turn into a 24-point deficit in one quarter? Fitch, not one to mince words, didn't have much.

``Once they got going, it turned into a landslide,'' Fitch said about the Sonics. ``We were waiving the white flag and didn't even know it.''

The Glove (Gary Payton) and friends choked the life out of the Clippers in a 38-11 third quarter, restoring matters to normal in a 102-86 win in front of 17,072 at Key Arena. It was the Sonics' 14th straight victory over the Clippers.

When their Pacific Division relatives from the low-rent district became a little too annoying, the Sonics simply turned up the heat, outscoring the Clippers by 27 points in the third quarter and making an admirable Clippers effort into another blowout.

``Yeah, they played good defense, but we couldn't hit any shots,'' guard Malik Sealy said. ``When they start playing defense and hitting those treys, it's hard to dig yourself out of the Grand Canyon.''

Sealy typified the Clippers effort. He scored 18 points in the first half and four in the second. He got open looks in the first half, and Payton's hand in his face in the second.

The Clippers went without scoring for stretches of four, three and 2-1/2 minutes in the third quarter. Seattle kept the Clippers in the game to eliminate the boredom, then immediately transformed into the team many think will repeat as Western Conference champions.

``There are some teams, when they get ahead of you (they) stomp on you,'' Fitch said. ``Seattle is one of those teams. They played with confidence and we couldn't even get a shot off.''

After a respectable first half the Clippers reverted back to, well, the Clippers. When the Sonics' defensive trap intensified, the Clippers forgot how to run an offense, missed easy shots and made silly turnovers (17 for the game).

You would have never guessed that this game in Seattle, when the Clippers led at halftime and shot 53 percent to boot, would be their most embarrassing loss of the season.

By the time it was over, Sonics 12th man favorite Steve Scheffler was running on to the court to replace Shawn Kemp with 11 minutes left.

And the Clippers were left wondering exactly who they are: the first-half team or the second-half team.

``I really can't answer that question,'' Clippers forward Loy Vaught said. ``They just jumped on us and kept going.''

Vaught finished well short of his recent efforts. He had six points and eight rebounds. He had seven boards in the first half and like the rest of the team, registered a DNP in the final two quarters.

Those humiliating times were supposed to be gone. Now, instead of falling apart for the entire game, the Clippers fall apart in certain stretches.

Against Washington on Thursday, they showed up in the second half - after a miserable first half - but couldn't erase a 17-point deficit. Fitch doesn't know when his club is going to collapse.

``I'm too busy trying to keep us in the game to worry about that during the game,'' Fitch said. ``It's after that it tears you up. They had the confidence and we didn't.''

Payton led the Sonics with 24 points while Detlef Schrempf had 22 in 31 minutes and Seattle's $35 million center, Jim McIlvaine, had five blocks. ``McIlvaine gives them a push by running down the court and just playing,'' Fitch said. ``We're still looking for that.''

The Clippers, led by early entrances from Lamond Murray and Eric Piatkowski, held a 51-48 halftime lead.

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