Ford Misses Practice Again

Chris Ford’s back condition has improved, but the coach was still a no-show at the Clippers’ practice on Friday.

Assistant Jim Todd, who stepped in for Ford and coached the team to recent consecutive victories, led the workout along with fellow assistant Rex Kalamian.

With rookie Lamar Odom sidelined because of flu, Derek Anderson and Brian Skinner out because of ankle injuries and Marty Conlon in New York with his ill father, the Clippers did not have enough players to scrimmage.

But despite their low numbers, the team had a productive practice, thanks to the feel-good attitude, the result of winning four of six games.

“Everybody is going to have an opinion on why they think the team is playing well, but no one really knows except the guys,” power forward Maurice Taylor said. “The coaching staff doesn’t know. The organization doesn’t know. It’s us.”

The Clippers didn’t make any major system changes when Todd filled in for Ford, but the players’ approach has been different. Because of the injuries, they’ve become a much looser team.

“It’s always been there, I just think J.T. tapped into something,” Taylor said. “He just kind of fired us up.”

The continuity offense the Clippers have shown lately is not new. Ford installed the system when he took over last season.

“We’re just trying to get a little more movement; it started because we had . . . three potential starters out,” Todd said. “We kind of felt that if teams stopped Lamar and Michael 1/8Olowokandi 3/8 on certain sets, we would have problems. So we’ve tried to spread it out a little bit, so hopefully, they wouldn’t be able to double us as much.”

The Clippers have gone through stretches before where they shared the ball and played together, but they didn’t last long. Todd is hoping the team’s young players realize they are playing their same system, only executing better.

“Two of the most successful teams in the last few years have been Utah and Chicago and they run continuity offenses,” Todd said. “You can always break it down into bits and pieces of it and go into other things.

“If you practice it and do it enough, you’ll become comfortable with it.”

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Starting with Sunday’s game against Boston, the Clippers will play two of their next three games against teams under .500 before playing the Lakers on consecutive nights, Jan. 4-5, to start the new year.