Gentry Is Committed to Finishing Strong

Whatever prompted last week’s grousing evidently has ended. The Clippers have a new goal, winning their final four games and finishing with the franchise’s first winning record since the 1991-92 team won 45 games.

The Clippers are 38-40 with games remaining against Sacramento, Minnesota, Memphis and Golden State. They already have won seven more games than last season’s team, which was 16 more than in 1999-2000.

“We had a good practice, a lively practice,” Coach Alvin Gentry said Wednesday. “Our goal is still to have a winning season and we have to win our last four games. We’re going to play out the season. We’re still going to work on things. Our approach is not going to change.”

In fact, the Clippers’ approach did change for a while, with center Michael Olowokandi talking pointedly about his lack of a contract for next season and its impact on the team’s play.

After being fined $50,000 by the team for last week’s comments, Olowokandi has returned his attention to the court. Gentry believes Olowokandi and the rest of the Clippers have returned their focus to where it should be: playing and winning.

“They’ve been great in the last few games,” Gentry said. “We did what we wanted to do in the Dallas game [last Thursday’s 25-point loss to the Mavericks]. We just didn’t shoot well. We played great defensively in the Denver game [Sunday’s 22-point victory over the Nuggets]. We played great in the Seattle game [Monday’s two-point loss to the SuperSonics].

“We’re back to competing and doing the right things.”

Of finishing the season with solid efforts in the final four games, Gentry said: “It’s important to everybody in the franchise--the players and the coaching staff. We have tried to establish to our fans that we play hard. We’re going to do what’s right for as long as I’m here.”

Gentry admitted for the first time Wednesday that the loss of forward Lamar Odom for all but 29 games this season because of injuries and a drug suspension was a devastating blow to the Clippers’ playoff hopes.

“It’s hard to have a guy like Lamar be out of the lineup like he was,” Gentry said. “He’s one of the best players in the league. He’s our most versatile player. It really took away from our team.”

Gentry is looking forward to Odom’s healthy return next season.

“It will be like adding the No. 1 pick in the draft, in my opinion,” he said. “Other guys have been able to step up. Elton Brand really established himself in the West. Michael [Olowokandi] really improved his game. Adding Lamar to the mix gives us a pretty good front line.”

The Clippers’ average attendance has increased from 14,621 last season to 17,880 this season, the league’s third-highest jump. Only Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons have had bigger increases.