Success Just Doesn’t Seem to Stick to This Team for Long

So much has changed and yet so little has changed. Springtime comes and the Clippers get their hearts broken.

It used to be Elgin Baylor sitting in a studio in Secaucus, N.J., watching the Clippers miss out on the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery when prizes such as David Robinson and Tim Duncan were available, only to see the L.A. logo come up when the likes of Danny Manning and Michael Olowokandi were available.

Tuesday night, at a time when all the bad memories seemed so distant, there was Baylor again, sitting a few rows from the court at US Airways Center, watching what would have been the most significant victory in Clippers history slip away in the type of fashion that leaves you talking to yourself for days.

The Clippers have less than 48 hours to recover from this one, a 125-118 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal.

They had a three-point lead with 3.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Phoenix got the ball to Raja Bell along the sideline, who was perfectly defended by Daniel Ewing. Bell rose up and made a three-pointer that dropped through the net with 1.1 seconds remaining.

The Clippers couldn’t get a shot off when Shaun Livingston’s inbounds pass landed on the baseline and they were headed to a second overtime, in which they lost.

They lost more than just a chance for a 3-2 lead in the series. They might have missed out on their chance to take over the town’s basketball populace. If it’s ever going to happen, it better be now, while the Lakers are down and the Clippers have the stage to themselves.

They wasted a 33-point, 15-rebound night by Elton Brand. They had more clutch shots by Sam Cassell.

They apparently lost their chance to convert Matt Leinart. The Trojan-turned Arizona Cardinal sat courtside for Game 5. Would the Southland native stick with the squad just a few blocks down Figueroa from his alma mater, or, fresh off a day of home-shopping, would he go with his new local team? He said he never was a Clippers fan, which apparently left only one option. Still, if he’s a loyal, jersey-wearing Lakers fan, how could he not be mad at the Suns for taking out his squad? “I was,” Leinart said. “But I like the Suns.”

And so it goes for the Clippers. They can’t seem to get a new, winning identity to stick. They’re a little bit like their star player. Brand is as dependable as the hammer in your toolbox, but he hasn’t dominated, never quite took a game over and made it his. He’s had a 40-point game that went for naught, a near triple-double that came in a losing effort. Tuesday he had another solid all-around outing but had some late missed free throws and turnovers that he will rue.

After the first two quarters, they didn’t appear to have much of a chance.

In the pressroom at halftime, Jack Nicholson looked at the stat sheet that showed 50% shooting for the Suns and 38% shooting for the Clippers and said, “The percentages even out, we’ll be OK.”

The big-screen star needed to look at the big picture. The way things had gone over the course of this series practically assured the Suns were due for a hot night. They made 48% of their shots during the regular season, but had not reached that mark in the previous three games.

While Raja Bell made 13 of 24 three-pointers in Games 2 through 4 (I bet even Kobe Bryant knows who the kid is now), the rest of the team made only 13 threes combined.

Back on their home court, with a foam finger-waving owner leading a frenzied crowd, the shots that clanked at Staples Center over the weekend found the net Tuesday.

The Clippers had been playing the percentages as well. They converged on Steve Nash whenever he drove. It might seem like a curious strategy to turn the league’s assist leader into a passer, but the Clippers would rather have other people shooting 23-foot jumpers than Nash lofting those little scoop shots at the rim.

Have it your way, the Suns said. While Nash delivered eight assists in the first three quarters, Tim Thomas knocked down threes, Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw got inside for scores and Shawn Marion collected the misses for putbacks.

For 2 1/2 quarters it was Suns-style, as they took a 19-point lead. Then Sam Cassell caught fire, scoring 10 points as the Clippers -- true to Nicholson’s forecast -- shot 58% in the quarter to raise their percentage for the game and get the deficit as small as four points.

From there, it progressed into a late-night classic.

And then it turned into classic Clippers, straight from their painful past.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.