Team Gets a Day to Heal Road Burns

If it was Saturday, then this must have been ... Toronto?

The road-weary Clippers spent the night in Charlotte, N.C., mulling over their dispiriting 92-91 overtime loss Friday to the Hornets, before heading to the Great White North.

“That’s the nice thing about the NBA, you’ve always got another game in a couple of days,” guard Eric Piatkowski said of playing today against the Toronto Raptors. “[But] to walk off the court [Friday] dejected and as the losing team really hurts.”

The road has been unkind to the Clippers, who are 2-12 away from Staples Center, including 0-4 on this six-game trip. They appeared to have Friday’s game against the Hornets sewn up, but squandered an eight-point lead with 1:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“It was a game we should have won,” guard Quentin Richardson said. “By not making [defensive plays] down the stretch, we paid for it. It’s hard to deal with a loss when you’ve led the whole game. This is a difficult one to swallow. We have to try to finish this trip on a positive note.”

At least the Clippers got a chance to rest and regain their bearings. They began this trip with a stretch of four games in four cities in five nights. In all, they have played eight games in an 11-day stretch on two coasts.

Coach Alvin Gentry gave his team the day off Saturday.

Swingman Corey Maggette did not play Friday because of a strained right knee and it’s possible he could be sidelined again today. Maggette had played in all of the team’s 36 games before Friday.

*

TODAY

at Toronto, noon PST

Site--Air Canada Centre.

Radio--KXTA (1150).

Records--Clippers 18-19, Raptors 20-16.

Record vs. Raptors--0-1.

Update--Vince Carter was held to 16 points on six-of-25 shooting during the Raptors’ 94-91 overtime victory Friday against the Atlanta Hawks. He had 29 points to lead the Raptors over the Clippers in the first game between the teams Nov. 16 at Staples Center. He averages a team-leading 25.5 points, but no one else averages more than 13 points.

Elliott Teaford