Clippers Stumbling to the Wire : Pro basketball: They lose fourth in a row, and Weiss admits this has been his most trying season.

Clipper Coach Bob Weiss, an accomplished amateur magician, probably wishes he could make his team’s dreadful season disappear.

But Weiss, who can make cigarettes vanish with a sleight of hand, can’t pull off that trick.

Weiss said this has been the most trying season of his six-year NBA head coaching career.

“It’s been very difficult with all the peripheral problems and injuries,” Weiss said.

The Clippers lost for the 11th time in their last 14 games, falling to the Seattle SuperSonics, 116-101, Tuesday night before 11,160 at the Sports Arena.

“I’ve run out of answers,” said Clipper forward Dominique Wilkins, who had a team-high 26 points. “I don’t know what to tell you. We just don’t come to play every night, that’s the only thing I can say.

“We just don’t play good team defense, we just don’t. That’s how you stop teams. You can’t stop them by individual defense.”

The Clippers’ most recent slide coincided with an announcement last month by Steve Kauffman, Wilkins’ agent, that Wilkins would test the free-agent market because he had been unable to reach a contract agreement with the Clippers. Wilkins is reportedly seeking a $21 million, three-year deal.

Does Wilkins regret the timing of the announcement?

“No, I don’t, actually,” he said. “I wish it hadn’t gotten to that point. They could have handled that before it even happened, but they chose not to.”

The Clippers (26-50), who’ve lost their last four games, remained in a last-place Pacific Division tie with the Sacramento Kings.

The Clippers, who ended a 19-game losing streak in Seattle earlier this season, fell behind by 19 points in the first half and couldn’t get any closer than four points.

Although Seattle has already clinched the Pacific Division title, the SuperSonics don’t look like they’re ready to take the rest of the regular season off.

Guard Kendall Gill had 26 points, forward Detlef Schrempf got 20 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high eight assists and All-Star forward Shawn Kemp had 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as the SuperSonics (58-18) won for the 12th time in their last 13 games.

The Clippers, who trailed by 61-50 at halftime, cut the SuperSonics’ lead to five points (84-79) going into the final quarter on a layup by forward Loy Vaught, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds, with 5.8 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Wilkins had 10 points and Ron Harper, who had 20 points, got six points in the third quarter as the Clippers outscored the SuperSonics 29-23 in the third quarter.

But the Clippers shot only 31.6% in the fourth quarter, missing 13 of 19 shots as Seattle beat them for the third time in four games. Wilkins missed five of six shots in the final quarter and Harper missed all three shots he took in the final quarter.

“This was not a great game,” Kemp said. “It’s the end of the season and their season’s almost over, so they might not have their heart in it.”

Clipper Notes

Clipper point guard Mark Jackson, who sat out the last three games because of a sprained right wrist, played for the first time since last Tuesday’s 92-91 victory at Denver. Jackson had four points and 11 assists . . . Clipper Coach Bob Weiss was called for a technical with 9:01 remaining in the second quarter. It was the first time Weiss had been called for a technical since he was kicked out of a game against the Boston Celtics on Dec. 30 after drawing two technicals.