Boykins Modestly Energizes Team

When you’re in the midst of a five-game losing streak, you look for little things to brighten the outlook.

For the Clippers, that would be 5-foot-5 Earl Boykins.

Boykins, however, is contributing more than just a little.

The night he was activated from the injured list, Jan. 7, he made a big splash against the Lakers, dazzling a Staples Center crowd with his speed and quickness. He had 11 points, three assists and one offensive rebound in the Clippers’ 118-95 victory.

Since then, he scored 15 points in a 108-88 loss at Atlanta and then entertained the fans at Milwaukee when he came on in the second quarter. He had five points and two assists in the quarter and helped the Clippers outscore the Bucks, 25-17, although they lost, 112-91.

In eight games, Boykins is averaging 7.1 points and 16.9 minutes. But mainly he is contributing a spark to a team in need of one.

Boykins, 24, is the son of a 5-8 Cleveland policeman and a 4-11 mother. He averaged 25.7 points his senior season at Eastern Michigan. He played in the Continental Basketball Assn., for three weeks last season and then, in his second stint in Cleveland, he played 25 games with the Cavaliers. He had 22 points in a game against Denver.

He was signed as a free agent in the off-season by the Clippers but didn’t play until Jan. 7 because of a knee injury.

What do his friends in Cleveland say now that it appears he is making it in the NBA?

“I was never one to say that someday I’d play in the NBA,” he said after practice Saturday. “I have a motto: Don’t say what you’re going to do, just go out and do it.

“I don’t talk much. You ask me a question, and I’ll gladly answer it, but otherwise I’m not one who says a whole lot.”

The Clippers, who don’t play again until Wednesday, did not practice Sunday.