Clippers Have 20-20 Vision

The Clippers reach the halfway point of the season tonight. And as a young team with visions of reaching the playoffs for the first time since 1997, they inspire a question: Are they better than they were a year ago at this time?

The record says yes, emphatically. After 40 games last season the Clippers stood 13-27. After Friday’s 109-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, before 17,798 at Staples Center, they are 20-20.

The increased talent level is also obvious. When Lamar Odom’s sore right wrist became too painful for him to continue in the third quarter, the Clippers didn’t skip a beat, thanks in large part to Elton Brand, who had 24 points (including 13 in a row in the third quarter) and 10 rebounds. Quentin Richardson had 22 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Jeff McInnis had 15 points and eight assists.

Then there was the season-high 17 points and 11 rebounds from Michael Olowokandi, helping the Clippers improve to 17-7 at home.

“We are progressing,” Coach Alvin Gentry said, before adding: “But we have to get to a point where we can play with the same kind of confidence on the road that we do in this building.”

The players say they get the message, even if they are 3-13 on the road going into tonight’s game in Portland.

“We know we have to get some wins on the road. We can’t just win here,” Richardson said.

Said Olowokandi:”We need to show we learned something from our last (1-5) road trip back East. This game [tonight] is important.”

If the Clippers are going to be a playoff team, Friday’s game is the kind they are supposed to win no matter where they play.

The 13-27 Cavaliers came in having lost eight in a row overall, and their last eight road games. But Cleveland, getting 24 points each from Andre Miller and Lamond Murray, made a pest of itself for nearly three quarters.

Both teams shot 52% (an identical 40 for 77), there were 20 lead changes and the score was tied 14 times. But the Clippers, who led, 47-46, at halftime, slowly separated themselves from the visitors midway through the third quarter, when Brand scored on six consecutive possessions.

“I know there are a lot of great forwards in the Western Conference,” Gentry said. “But if being an all-star means being very valuable to your team, I just hope when the West coaches vote for the All-Star team they give Elton lots of consideration.”

Gentry expressed a new concern for Odom’s health. “We’re getting to a point where we will have to consider sitting him out a couple of games.”

Until Los Angeles took control in the fourth quarter, the biggest cheer of the night was given to fan Dwight Winn of Danville. At the end of the third quarter, Winn, 27, banked in a half-court shot to win a new automobile..

Odom wasn’t the only one in pain Friday. Murray took an accidental elbow in the face from Darius Miles in the fourth quarter and had to leave the game. And the three-man referee crew was shortened to two when Courtney Kirkland sustained a pulled groin muscle in the third quarter.