Clippers Back on Track

The Clippers desperately need more games like this one, a comprehensive victory over the woebegone Memphis Grizzlies, a team they figured to defeat going in. After all, if there’s a team experiencing more pain and suffering than the Clippers, it’s the luckless Grizzlies.

Memphis went into Monday’s 90-77 loss to the Clippers before an announced crowd of 11,878 at the Pyramid with seven players injured or suspended and out of the lineup.

A guy named Eddie Gill directed the Grizzlies in the absence of point guards Jason Williams, who did not play because of toe trouble, and Brevin Knight (sprained ankle). Gill, signed to a 10-day contract Saturday, responded with 20 points.

The Grizzlies also were without Michael Dickerson, who has a stress fracture near his groin. Isaac Austin has a sore knee, Nick Anderson a sprained wrist and Grant Long a groin strain. And Rodney Buford is serving a drug suspension.

All of which led to Clipper power forward Elton Brand recording his 38th double-double.... by the end of the first quarter. Actually, if you want to be specific, it took Brand only 10 minutes 29 seconds before he scored 10 points and took 10 rebounds.

Brand would finish with 27 points and a career-best 23 rebounds, his second 20-20 effort in as many games and the third of his career. He had 23 points and 21 rebounds in Saturday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, and Monday became the first player in Clipper history to score 20 or more points and take 20 or more rebounds in consecutive games.

“Elton was a monster down low,” Memphis Coach Sidney Lowe said. “He was too tough down there. We couldn’t stop him.”

The Grizzlies tried to thwart Brand, but with only eight healthy bodies, it was a mismatch from start to finish.

Or it would have been if the Clippers hadn’t lost almost all of a double-digit lead in the third quarter. But unlike their last trip to Memphis, when the Clippers squandered a 14-point lead en route to an overtime loss Jan. 28, they drew strength from Brand during crunch time Monday.

Despite playing with a stretched tendon in his right ring finger, Brand made five of six shots in the second half and one of two free throws for 11 points. He also had 10 rebounds, including eight on the defensive end.

Point guard Jeff McInnis helped keep the Clippers afloat, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the second half. With the Clippers ahead, 68-62, McInnis made three free throws to start the fourth quarter and gave them breathing room. Memphis never got closer than 75-68 after rookie forward Pau Gasol’s layup with 5:08 left.

McInnis also captured the essence of the Clippers’ second victory in four games on this five-game trip.

“It was an ugly, scrappy, crazy game, but it was a win,” he said. “We needed that. We want to get to the playoffs. That’s our main goal. We’ve got to concentrate on getting more wins like this one.”

To be sure, defeating the Grizzlies was expected, but the Clippers have miles to fly before they rest.

Tonight’s game against the Rockets at Houston will be the Clippers’ 21st on the road in their last 30 games.

“Nobody else is losing--not Seattle or Portland or Phoenix--so we can’t lose either,” Brand said. “We’ve got to get back into the race.”

Overall, the Clippers are 28-30 and hoping to recapture the early-season momentum they built while playing almost exclusively at home before Jan. 1.

The Clippers vaulted over the Phoenix Suns by percentage points into ninth place and trail the eighth-place Seattle SuperSonics by three games.

Only eight Western Conference teams advance to the playoffs.

But wait, there’s more.

The Clippers play four of their next five on the road. They return from this trip to face the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Staples Center, then hit the road again to play Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland and Minnesota.