NO CONTEST

By J.A. ADANDE

Dec. 14, 1999 12 AM PT

It was the NBA schedule-maker’s whim that made the Clippers the visiting team for their game against the Lakers tonight.

But the symbolism will be just too hard to ignore.

The Clippers, wearing road jerseys in their own city, in the building they call home. It’s only appropriate, because they’ve never really been the home team. They haven’t even established themselves enough to form a legitimate rivalry with the Lakers, to creep out of the shadows, to be something besides “the other” team.

“L.A.’s always going to be a Laker town and it’s always going to be a Dodger town,” former Clipper point guard Darrick Martin said. “The Angels were smart enough to move down to Anaheim and develop their own fan base. The Clippers should have known that and done the same thing.”

Instead they’ve stayed and struggled to develop their own image. What little identity they have consists of perpetual losers.

A never-ending source of material for late-night talk show monologues.

To make matters worse, they’ve always had to compete against the Lakers, one of the league’s most successful--and glamorous--franchises. The Clippers have averaged half as many victories per season as the Lakers since they moved here in 1984. And come playoff time, when people really pay attention to the NBA, the Clippers have only been in the picture three times, winning a total of four games to the Lakers’ 103 during that span.

“Everything evolves from the winning and the losing,” said Bill Walton, who played for the Clippers in the ‘80s and now serves as the team’s color commentator. “The reason the Lakers have the fans and the big TV games is from the winning. The fans, the TV, the media . . . it follows the winners.” And the Clippers can’t seem to shake their culture of losing.

Which is why, as former Clipper Brent Barry once said: “The Lakers will always be big brother.”

The Clippers played in the Sports Arena, the place the Lakers left behind when they moved to the Forum. And they seemed to fit right in with the dreary, uninspiring environment of a building that became the league’s oldest facility once Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium went down.

Not even moving to Staples Center, the city’s glitzy new sports facility that also houses the Kings and Lakers, could put them on equal footing. If anything, it seems to emphasize the disparity between the teams.

King owners Phil Anschutz and Ed Roski built Staples Center for their team, but they never would have broken ground without a commitment from the Lakers as well. The Clippers were asked to join in to provide additional dates and help the arena company recoup its $400-million investment.

The pecking order is clear.

“To me it seems kind of obvious that basically it’s the Kings’ spot, the Lakers come next, then us,” Clipper forward Maurice Taylor said. “That’s pretty much known. I don’t think that’s a secret or anything.”

“Oh, man, it’s the varsity and JV,” Martin said.

“Being second, that can be kind of hard. To convince players to come play for you, it would be better to move down to Anaheim.”

The Clippers played six to eight games a year at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim from 1994-95 through last season. The games were always well attended. The league wanted the Clippers to move there permanently. The city of Anaheim wanted it. The players wanted it.

“It’s easier to get motivated,” Martin said. “Anybody that can tell you that you can go and play in front of no crowd, they’re lying to you. You want to play in front of a crowd that’s behind you.

“They got great support in Anaheim, 1,500 in L.A. That doesn’t make any sense. If you’re trying to win and build a winning program, why wouldn’t you move a team down there?”

But the Clippers stayed out of Orange County. And when they committed to Staples Center, that effectively ended the relationship with the Pond.

Economically, the move to Staples Center makes great sense for the Clippers. They would not be able to get the same percentage of luxury suite and concession revenues from the Arrowhead Pond. They finally have a state-of-the art facility to pitch to prospective players.

In some ways it’s also a blessing for local fans. They can come to Staples Center to watch NBA basketball at reduced rates.

For comparison purposes, when the teams alternate hosting the games on back-to-back nights in January, there are some cases where Laker season-ticket holders will pay twice as much as Clipper season-ticket holders to sit in the same seat to watch the same two teams play.

But the motives of team owner Donald T. Sterling have always come across as less altruistic and more a stubborn determination to remain in L.A.

“The decision to move to Los Angeles was one we made in 1984. We haven’t regretted it or second-guessed it ever,” Clipper Executive Vice President Andy Roeser said.

“The move to Staples Center has been a great move for ourselves.

“We have long viewed ourselves as Los Angeles’ team and long needed a new stadium. The Staples Center has been the ideal solution to that issue.

“From every perspective, it’s better. From an economic perspective, it’s better. From a pure facilities standpoint, it’s better. From the services that we’re able to provide our fans, it’s better. To really realize the full potential of it, we just need to get the team competitive and fun and exciting to watch.”

It always gets back to wins and losses. In the Clippers’ case, that usually means losses.

So it becomes an almost unbreakable cycle of bad teams creating a bad atmosphere that no one wants to be a part of, which results in more bad teams.

“It’s difficult,” said Isaac Austin, who spent the latter part of the 1997-98 season with the Clippers. “It’s something that you just can’t control. All you can do is just play through it.”

It often leads to players playing for themselves instead of the team. The only example of Clippers Spirit is the dance troupe. As for the players, it tends to be a fragmented group just vying for a contract somewhere else. “It’s like a convalescent home,” Martin said. “Everyone’s just waiting for their time.”

The Clippers have as talented a group of players as they’ve had in years, yet it’s the same story. They started the season by losing 16 of their first 20 games, and attendance has been so paltry that the upper-concourse is not opened for most games.

If they’re part of the Staples Center family, then they’re like the forgotten uncle who hides in the attic.

Even though they do get their own locker room and their own court with their colors, it feels as though the Clippers are visiting, not as if they’re in Their House.

“You would like to establish yourself in your own arena and really establish an identity,” Taylor said. “Until that day comes, we’re going to be a renter.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SH L.A. Story

Comparing the teams since the Clippers moved to town in 1984-85. Numbers do not include this season:

Total record

Lakers: 793-405

Clippers: 395-803

Avg. Wins/Season

Lakers: 52.9

Clippers: 26.3

Head to Head

Lakers: 59-16

Clippers: 16-59