Clippers Emerge Against the Magic

Although both the Lakers and Clippers have called Staples Center home for the last 14 months, it has clearly been a kinder arena for the purple and gold tenants.

But the Clippers know winning can change that. And if play team basketball more like they did in Monday night’s impressive 92-80 victory over Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and the Orlando Magic, there may two NBA teams in Los Angeles who will finally be able to call Staples Center their house.

“This was a big win for us because we have a nice homestand coming up before Christmas,” said veteran Eric Piatkowski, who had a good all-around game with 15 points and four rebounds. “It would be nice for us to get a nice run now because we felt we should have won a couple of more games in our recent [1-5] road trip.”

With the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal making a rare appearance as a spectator for a non-Laker Staples Center game, the Clippers played like a hungry team and forced Orlando, which had Hill in the lineup for the first time since the second game of the season, into a perimeter-shooting team before 9,135.

Led by the unlikely duo of rookie Darius Miles and Piatkowski, the Clippers put on a dominating offensive show in the second half to end a two-game losing streak. They outscored the Magic, 47-34, over the final two quarters to snap Orlando’s four-game winning streak.

Miles, who recently has been getting more playing time at power forward, had one of his best games with 13 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Miles made six of nine field goals, including four spectacular dunks.

“I didn’t have any energy on any of my dunks,” said Miles, who played 27 minutes off the bench. “I’m coming down with the flu or something. The gym and rim was spinning when I was jumping. But we needed a win and my team was counting on me tonight.”

Lamar Odom had one of his better defensive games--helping out on McGrady (who finished with only 14 points and missed 16 of 23 field goals) and led the Clippers with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. But he wasn’t the only contributor for Coach Alvin Gentry’s young bunch.

Jeff McInnis helped limit Orlando point guard Darrell Armstrong to two points while collecting 16 points and six assists himself. Quentin Richardson had a strong first half and finished with 14 points and Sean Rooks came off the bench with eight points and 11 rebounds.

“You could see it early, even when we were up 10 [points in the first half],” Orlando Coach Doc Rivers said. “When you have another team playing as hard as them, especially a young team as athletic as the Clippers, you’re going to lose.”

Strong offensive starts have not been a Clipper strength this season. But after struggling to get early points in their just-concluded trip, the Clippers scored easily in the first quarter against the Magic.

Matched up against Hill, who returned with 19 points in 25 minutes after missing 18 games because of a nagging ankle injury, Richardson was up for the challenge, scoring seven of the Clippers’ first 10 points. Richardson did most of his damage driving to the basket and once Odom and McInnis got into flow, the Clippers held a 24-20 lead on 63% shooting from the field.

But the Clippers’ feel-good offensive rhythm ended quickly once Rivers turned to his bench and began using a more aggressive full-court pressure defense. The Clippers missed their first seven attempts in the second quarter and the Magic took a 46-45 lead at halftime.

If Miles was ill, he didn’t show, bringing energy and excitement to the floor in the second half. Miles brought fans to their feet with a couple of spectacular plays, including consecutive alley-oop dunks, to help the Clippers to a 16-1 run to close the third quarter and they never looked back.

“This was truly a team win,” Gentry said. “I thought [Miles’ dunks] gave us a lot of life. It also got the fans more into the game.”