Clippers Are No Joke After Playoff Clincher

When Bill Fitch was hired to coach the Clippers in 1994, one of his goals was to ensure that they were no longer the laughingstock of the NBA.

“They were telling a lot of [Clipper jokes],” Fitch said. “I like a good joke and I like to laugh, but you get tired of laughing at the same one.

“I figured that hard work would take care of a lot of that and it has. These guys deserve to have a little bit kinder things said about them. They’ve earned it. It’s not like a gift, they’ve earned it.”

The Clippers earned their first playoff berth in four seasons, defeating the Dallas Mavericks, 99-93, to clinch eighth place in the Western Conference Monday night before 15,461 at Reunion Arena.

“We never gave up,” said guard Malik Sealy, who won 17 games in his first season as a Clipper three years ago. “All you guys that said we couldn’t do it, ha, ha!”

Guard Darrick Martin, who had a team-high 21 points, leaped onto the back of forward Lamond Murray in celebration at the end of the game.

Martin, inserted into the starting lineup the day after Thanksgiving, carried the Clippers for much of the season.

And he did it again in their most important game of the season, scoring seven of their final nine points after the Mavericks cut a 17-point, third-quarter deficit to three points at the start of the fourth quarter.

“I love to win,” Martin said. “When I was little, I used to cry when I lost.”

The Clippers (36-43), who have the worst record of any team in the playoffs this season, will open the postseason against the Utah Jazz, who have the NBA’s second-best record and have won 14 consecutive games against the Clippers in Salt Lake City.

Maybe that’s why the Clippers’ postgame celebration was so subdued. Everyone put on playoff T-shirts and caps, but they seemed to sense that their real work is only beginning.

“We’ve still got three games left,” Sealy said. “We’re happy, don’t take that for granted, but we want to hold off on the champagne.”

Fitch, who guided the Boston Celtics to the 1981 NBA championship, agreed.

“Now we’re going to try and climb a bigger mountain,” Fitch said. “We have reached the goal that we thought was reachable and now we have some goals that might not be as reachable.”

The Clippers have finally earned some respect.

“We got the same kind of respect Rodney Dangerfield gets,” Fitch said. “The last place it will come from is probably the media, but when you get it from your peers you know that it can’t be far away from everyone. I think they’ve developed the respect of their peers. Their peers know that when they come to play the Clippers, they don’t get a night off anymore.

“In fact, we’re paying for that right now. Everybody comes and plays us like we’re Utah or the Lakers and we’re not ready for that yet.”

Forward Loy Vaught, the only player left from the Clippers’ last playoff team, agreed.

“To get real respect you have to do this over time,” said Vaught, who had 14 points and 15 rebounds. “There’s no better time to start than the present.”

Meanwhile, rookie center Lorenzen Wright, who bused in 30 family members and friends from Memphis, was ejected with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter after elbowing Maverick center Shawn Bradley in the face as they battled for position. Bradley went on to tie a career high with 32 points.