Sealy Makes It Smooth for Clippers

Malik Sealy, who has shot a career-worst 40% this season, was as smooth as silk Sunday.

Sealy made nine of his first 10 shots and scored a season-high 30 points, as the Clippers registered their fifth consecutive victory over the San Antonio Spurs, 106-91, before 13,423 at the Sports Arena.

“Silk was the go-to guy and he went to it,” Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said.

Sealy made a season-high 13 field goals in 22 attempts as the Clippers won for the third time in four games.

“I felt pretty good because they were going in,” Sealy said. “Sometimes I feel good when they’re not going in, but I don’t like to tell anybody.”

Knowing that he was two points away from reaching 30 points, the Clippers set up Sealy for a drive with 5.4 seconds remaining and he made two free throws after being fouled by Vernon Maxwell.

“That’s the first time I’ve had 30 in two or three years,” said Sealy, who had 10 points in the final quarter as the Clippers ended the game with a 12-2 run. “It felt good. The biggest thing was the guys on my team wanting me to get it.”

With the crowd chanting his name each time he touched the ball, guard Brent Barry, who played a season-high 30 minutes, had 14 points, a season-high seven assists, three rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.

“I thought that’s the best he’s played from a total game,” Fitch said of Barry, who played the entire fourth quarter in which he got seven points and two assists. “Granted, they went by him a few times defensively, but he was playing it right and he gave a second effort.”

But Barry wasn’t satisfied.

“I want to play the perfect game,” Barry said. “There’s never anyone in their career who’s played one. Until I play that perfect game, I’m not going to be real satisfied with the way I played.

“I’m still learning to play the point. Knowing that we have a chance to make the playoffs, I need to step up my performance and play well.

“The job of a point guard is to distribute the basketball. I’d rather score eight points and have 14 assists than to score 20 [points] and have two [assists] because then you’re accounting for more points and you keep a lot of people happy that way.”

Was Barry pleased that the fans chanted for him?

“I thought coach might pull me out,” Barry said. “Usually [Fitch] doesn’t put me in if they chant.”

Forward Rodney Rogers had 17 points and seven rebounds in 35 minutes and forward Loy Vaught had 15 points, four rebounds and two assists as the Clippers swept a season series from the Spurs for the first time in franchise history.

“I can’t say enough about how much help he’s given us playing center,” Fitch said of Rogers.

If the Clippers (30-37), who surpassed last season’s total of 29 victories, earn their first playoff berth since 1993, they might consider sending a get well/thank you card to the Spurs, crippled by injuries to center David Robinson and forwards Chuck Person and Sean Elliott.

But Spur Coach-General Manager Gregg Popovich thinks the Clippers are one of the NBA’s most improved teams.

“They’ve improved a great deal,” Popovich said. “When you look at the Clipper team under Coach Fitch, you see a group that’s disciplined, that has a defensive base and plays more aggressively and those are the kind of things that get you into the playoffs.”