Rogers Provides Impressive Lift

It would be safe to say that the first two months of this season has not gone the way Rodney Rogers had hoped. Because until recently, Rogers’ playing time had been as inconsistent as his play.

But the last two games, Rogers--who’s in the last year of his contract--has regained some of the jump in his legs and on Sunday, he had his most explosive game of the season against Minnesota. Rogers played both forward positions, scoring 14 points, grabbing nine rebounds and passing for seven assists.

“He played great, he was a big lift off the bench,” Coach Chris Ford said. “He played [Minnesota’s Kevin] Garnett real physical and he made some really big plays on the offensive end. . . . He made a lot of hustle plays.”

Added point guard Darrick Martin: “I told [Rogers] that it was time for him to use his big shoulders and for us to ride him for a little bit. He was good. He’s really starting to play.

“He’s done that the last couple of games.”

*

In an attempt to get his players ready for the Timberwolves, Ford and his staff had the team watch together the entire tape of their 93-82 loss to Toronto on Friday, hoping that they would understand their mistakes better. It was a tactic that worked.

“[Ford] showed us how to do things right,” Lorenzen Wright said. “He showed us when we did things that way, we scored [by passing to the open man] . . . I think everyone was more conscious of what they had to do.”

*

For the 13th time in 24 games, the Clippers had a different starting lineup with Darrick Martin and Eric Piatkowski in the backcourt, Tyrone Nesby and Maurice Taylor at forwards and Michael Olowokandi at center.