It’s good Dunleavy avoids the door

Sacramento Kings Coach Reggie Theus bit the dust Monday, becoming the sixth NBA coach to be fired this season.

If the number isn’t unusual, the fact it happened with nine shopping days left before Christmas is.

Add in the six fired after last season (Dallas’ Avery Johnson, Detroit’s Flip Saunders, New York’s Isiah Thomas, Milwaukee’s Larry Krystkowiak, Charlotte’s Sam Vincent, Chicago’s Jim Boylan) and the two who got out while the getting was good (Phoenix’s Mike D’Antoni, Miami’s Pat Riley) and we only need one more to make half of the league’s 30 teams.

Making it truly remarkable, the other owners did this without their mainstay, the Clippers’ Donald T. Sterling, who hasn’t gotten to fire a single coach.

One domino refuses to fall and, amazingly, it’s Donald’s coach, Mike Dunleavy.

Even with three toppling who were behind Dunleavy (Washington’s Eddie Jordan at 1-10, Oklahoma City’s P.J. Carlesimo at 1-12, Theus at 6-18) and three who were ahead (Minnesota’s Randy Wittman at 4-15, Philadelphia’s Mo Cheeks at 9-14, Toronto’s Sam Mitchell at 8-9), Dunleavy is still standing.

This is either a result of Sterling’s hard-earned wisdom, or Dunleavy’s contract, which has two more seasons worth $10.4 million after this one.

In either case, it may turn out to be the smartest thing the Clippers have done, or the luckiest thing to happen to them, since Donald noticed Staples Center might have enough dates for a third tenant just months before it opened.

Sterling is now flirting with a new concept: stability.

Since he is who he is, we’ll believe it when we’ve seen it, but as of today, it’s still on.

You may not have noticed, but last weekend a pulse was detected among the Clippers, who beat the Trail Blazers in Portland and hammered the Houston Rockets here.

Until then, there were myriad reasons for their awful start: injuries to Baron Davis and Marcus Camby; Davis’ avowed “disconnect” with Dunleavy; the trade for Zach Randolph that brought their 10th and 11th new players.

Nevertheless, the bottom line was the same: The team flopped around like a dying flounder.

If the Lakers look casual now, the Clippers just came out and went belly up, if it meant giving up a career-high 30 points to Sacramento’s Beno Udrih and another career-high 37 in the next game to Golden State’s Anthony Morrow.

Both were point guards, suggesting a continuing problem with Davis, normally a stellar defender, even after he insisted he and Dunleavy had worked out their issues.

Davis’ play improved, but there was still a question of how much he had bought into the program, which needed him the way a house needs electricity.

Such questions aren’t answered in a weekend, but the Clippers’ first winning streak was a reminder they have talent that hasn’t packed it in, even if it looked close.

There are lots of reasons given for firing coaches, but it always comes down to one thing: Someone has to take the fall, aside from the Top Guy.

All endeavors have their rituals for assigning blame for shortfalls in ratings, revenue or the standings.

TV networks add gimmicks like the Fox Worm Cam’s ground-level view of batters in baseball. Wall Street firms apply for bailouts. Newspapers cut the staff. Teams fire coaches.

The current economic problems don’t just add to the press, they multiply it.

The Kings’ owners, the Maloofuses, er, the Maloof brothers, Joe and Gavin, are great as owners go, enthusiastic, outgoing, willing to spend money and not overly meddlesome.

However, the sight of Arco Arena emptying out exerts a pressure all its own. The Kings are No. 29 in attendance at 12,307 a game, the other end of the spectrum from their 354-game sellout streak between 1999 and 2007.

Since the spring of 2005, Joe and Gavin have offed Rick Adelman, Eric Musselman and Theus.

Theus was 24 games into his second season after going a surprising 39-43 in his first, with the last of their old gang, Mike Bibby, leaving, and Ron Artest on his way out.

This season, Theus didn’t have Kevin Martin for 15 games. With young players like Martin, John Salmons, Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson, the Kings looked like a team with a future, but even more than before, the future had better be now.

--

mark.heisler@latimes.com

--

Line in the sand

Substandard free-throw shooting at practice earns the Lakers some extra conditioning drills, courtesy of Phil Jackson. PAGE 4