Clippers sail into uncharted, smooth waters
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Clippers long have been the NBA’s doormat. Now they might be the best team in a town that has come to expect championships from the Lakers.
The Clippers are coming off their best November in 30 years, and that’s going back to their Buffalo Braves days. Instead of thinking ahead to yet another lottery pick, they look like a playoff contender in the rugged Western Conference.
Heading into this weekend they had a better record than the storied Lakers, the team with which they share an arena.
“I have always looked at their team as being young and explosive,” Cleveland coach Paul Silas said after the Clippers beat the Cavaliers 94-82 earlier this week.
The game was the fourth in five nights for the Clippers – all wins – and only the second loss in 11 games for the Cavaliers. The win gave the Clippers a 9-6 record, the second-best November in franchise history.
Cleveland star LeBron James, who was held to two points in the fourth quarter and 22 overall, said the Clippers – such as his Cavs – no longer are an easy opponent.
“They’ve started to turn it around in the Western Conference,” James said. “So we’re two common teams.”
Silas said the Clippers needed to get the right coach, and to run that coach’s system. He said that coach is Mike Dunleavy, who is in his second season with the Clippers.
Dunleavy’s first season was tough. With injuries a major factor, the Clippers lost 24 of their last 28 games to finish 28-54 – a typical record for a team that has made the playoffs only three times since 1976.
There were big hopes last summer when the Clippers came close to signing Kobe Bryant. But Bryant returned to the Lakers, and unrestricted free agent Quentin Richardson left for Phoenix when the Clippers declined to match the Suns’ six-year, $45 million contract offer.
That was bad enough. Things really appeared bleak when projected starters Chris Kaman and newcomer Kerry Kittles were on the injured list when the season began Nov. 3.
But the Clippers beat Seattle 114-84 and handed Eastern Conference power Indiana a 102-68 setback seven days later – the most one-sided home loss in Pacers history. That was long before Indiana stars Ron Artest, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson were suspended for their part in the brawl at Detroit.
The Clippers beat the Pacers again 88-76 Wednesday night at Staples Center for their fifth straight victory – their longest winning streak since November 1995. That gave them a 10-6 record entering the weekend.
“We’re getting really good defensive play out of our guys, and we’re getting really good ball movement,” Dunleavy said. “Those two things are helping us win games.”
The Clippers also are among the NBA leaders in field-goal percentage and assists.
Since moving from Buffalo 26 years ago, the Clippers had taken a winning record into December only once – they were 7-6 in 1992, on their way to a 41-41 record in Larry Brown’s only full season as their coach. The franchise’s best November was in 1974 in Buffalo, when it went 12-4.
“I’m enjoying this, regardless of our record,” Dunleavy said. “This process is a building process. You plug the pieces in and things can happen. It starts at the defensive end of the floor.”
Elton Brand, the only player on the roster who has been an All-Star, led the team heading into this weekend’s games with a 19.2 points-per-game average. Corey Maggette was at 18.4 while Bobby Simmons, signed as a free agent shortly before last season, was at 16.6.
Simmons has become a solid player at both ends of the floor, including some strong defense on James earlier this week in the win over the Cavs.
The Clippers beat Cleveland without Kittles and Maggette, who returned Wednesday night against Indiana.
Highly touted rookie Shaun Livingston remains sidelined with a dislocated kneecap.
Point guard Marko Jaric is playing far better than he did in his two previous NBA seasons, and so is former first-round draft pick Chris Wilcox.