Leadership Seems Natural for Maggette

As the Clippers’ season winds down to its final eight days, second-year swingman Corey Maggette has quietly emerged as one of the team’s leaders.

It was Maggette, 21, who helped spark the Clippers’ comeback victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday when he gave his teammates a pep talk after Lamar Odom and Jeff McInnis were ejected late in the fourth quarter. It also was Maggette, who after missing his first eight field goals, bounced back to score 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

“When he told the team during an important timeout that we can still win the game, everybody else fed off of him,” Coach Alvin Gentry said about Maggette’s pep talk against the Bucks.

“He’s a very mature guy for his age. In his own way, he has become a quiet leader. If nothing else, he leads by example because you can’t ever say he’s not playing hard. When you have guys like that, when they say something, you have to listen.”

*

The Clippers were without Igor Kokoskov for Saturday’s loss because the assistant coach returned home to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, because of the recent death of his father.

Kokoskov, the first foreign coach in NBA history, had been concerned about his father’s ailing health since he left the team to visit him in early February.

“It’s really been tough because his dad had been sick for a while,” Gentry said. “Igor is a real private guy. He didn’t talk about it very much. He let me know last week that there’s a chance that he would have to go home. Our whole franchise is supportive with whatever he has to do. I know I’ve told him to take as long as he has to.”

With only five games left in the season, the Clippers are not sure if Kokoskov will return before they play their final game at Utah on April 17.

“Igor said he’ll stay for about a week and try and come back for our last couple of games,” Gentry said. “If he does, he’ll then go back to [Belgrade] in May.”

*

The Clippers will practice today at L.A. Southwest College before leaving for Sacramento, where they will play the Kings on Tuesday. Forward Cherokee Parks, who suffered a minor injury to his left eye on Saturday, is expected to be back but rookie Darius Miles, who suffered a dislocated right shoulder against the Spurs, is listed as questionable.