While the Clippers Let Down, Warriors Crank Up Victory : Pro basketball: On the night after team clinches a playoff spot, Harper calls his teammates passive in the early going.

Two things were clear Friday night at Oakland Coliseum Arena, where the Golden State Warriors beat the Clippers, 116-104, despite a triple-double by Ron Harper:

The Clippers will finish seventh in the Western Conference and play the Utah Jazz in the best-of-five first-round playoffs, beginning Thursday or Friday in Salt Lake City.

And, the Clippers still don’t seem ready to play every night. Coach Larry Brown said he sensed a different attitude before the game. Harper took it a step further.

“We started the game very unaggressive, as passive as I’ve ever seen,” he said after getting 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Clippers’ first triple-double since Gary Grant did it Jan. 30, 1990, against the Lakers. “I know we’ve made the playoffs and everything, but we still had two games to go.”

Now, there is one more, Sunday at the Forum, to build some momentum for the playoffs after having lost two of their last three.

There wasn’t a celebration late into Thursday night or at any time Friday on the occasion of the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs since 1976. The schedule didn’t allow it.

Most players had left the Sports Arena by 11 p.m. Thursday, then were at the airport by 10:30 Friday morning for the short flight north. By 5:30 p.m., they were on the bus headed for a game with something still at stake.

The Warriors went in tied with Utah for the second-best record in the conference and the home-court advantage in case the teams met in the second round of the playoffs, although the Jazz holds the tiebreaker edge.

The Clippers were simply in the playoffs.

Their overriding emotion?

“Probably relieved,” said James Edwards, a starter in place of injured Charles Smith. “Relieved to get the win (Thursday) night and to go into the last games to be able to work on things in preparation for the playoffs.

“Of course there was a sense of celebration because it has been 16 years. But we don’t need to celebrate too much because we still have to prepare for Utah or whoever we play.”

General Manager Elgin Baylor celebrated Thursday’s clincher by going to sleep. But he was battling the lingering effects of flu, and he was in Orlando, Fla., where he has spent the week scouting college players at a pre-draft camp.

“I was there in spirit,” he said. “I felt good about it. I said all year I felt we were going to be in the playoffs.

“I don’t know what it would have been like to be there, physically. But the joy and jubilation would feel good to all the people who have suffered for so many years. (Owner) Donald Sterling and all the players deserve this. So many fans have been loyal, and sponsors, too. I’m so happy for them it’s hard to describe.”

Baylor got back to his room about 11:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, just about tipoff in Los Angeles, then spent hours flicking TV channels in hopes of updates. The final score came across about 1:15 a.m., and soon after he got a call from his wife, Coach Larry Brown and assistant John Hammond in the coaches’ office in the locker room.

“He’s absorbed more criticism than any of the players,” said Ken Norman, noting Baylor’s absence. “I think it did take a little bit away that he couldn’t be there with us. . . . It would have been a little bit more special to have him around and shake his hand.”

Clipper Notes

Charles Smith, still feeling the effects of the knee problems that led to arthroscopic surgery in training camp, was held out because of the swelling and soreness in what the Clippers say is only a precautionary move after he played a season-high 41 minutes Thursday against Minnesota. The Clippers last played back-to-back games April 2-3 at Cleveland and Chicago, and that gave Smith problems. He played 22 minutes against the Cavaliers, then had soreness while playing the Bulls and saw very little action during the second half. The only cure seems to be rest.

About 1,000 tickets were sold within half an hour when playoffs sales began Friday morning for Games 3 and 4 by phone or at the Sports Arena or Ticketmaster. . . . LeRon Ellis did not make the trip because of flu and a migraine headache that also kept him out Thursday.

Golden State played without Sarunas Marciulionis, who has a slightly torn muscle in his right shoulder. He is expected to be ready by the start of the playoffs.