Clippers Create a Little Buzz

Eclipsing the down-on-their-luck Phoenix Suns was one thing.

Monday night, their season nearly one quarter completed and a perfect homestand in their thoughts, the Clippers ran their winning streak to three games with a blowout victory over one of the top teams in the East.

Their 109-80 rout of the New Orleans Hornets in front of 11,961 in Staples Center left them in position to sweep a four-games-in-eight-nights run in the arena with a victory Wednesday night over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Of course, for the Clippers every silver lining seems to have a cloud. Their leading scorer, Corey Maggette, aggravated a 5-day-old ankle injury and spent the last 11 minutes 26 seconds getting it treated in the locker room after stepping on the foot of Hornet reserve David West.

When he left, the Clipper lead was 14 points. They continued to build on it in his absence, finishing with by far their most lopsided victory since Dec. 2, 2001 when they beat the Indiana Pacers, 103-72.

“We share the ball with each other, we cheer for each other and we enjoy when other guys are doing well,” Clipper guard Quentin Richardson said. “Everybody is up on the bench, everybody’s yelling. In the huddle, everyone’s slapping five and we’re having a lot of fun out there.”

Elton Brand scored a season-high 27 points and took 13 rebounds. Marko Jaric had 19 points and eight assists, matching his season highs and outplaying the Hornets’ All-Star point guard, Baron Davis. Richardson had 17 points and eight rebounds and Maggette scored 13 points in 20 minutes.

Jamal Magloire led the Hornets with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and P.J. Brown had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Davis had 16 points and eight assists but missed 15 of 22 shots, nine of 11 from beyond the three-point arc.

“Marko played a great game tonight,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Baron Davis was a tough matchup. We gave him help, but he did as good a job as anyone has done.”

The Clippers made 50.6% of their shots, the Hornets 35.7%.

The Hornets, making the most of their final season in the NBA’s lesser conference, are challenging Indiana for the best record in the East. Last month at New Orleans, they beat the Lakers, 114-95.

“They can match up with any Western Conference team,” Brand said of the Hornets, who will switch conferences next season when the expansion Charlotte Bobcats join the East. “Not too many teams in the East could do that.”

Led by Davis, an early most-valuable-player candidate, and a group of active big men, the Hornets had won four in a row and six of seven, among them the first two games of a four-game Western swing Thursday at Phoenix and Friday at Golden State.

“They’re a really good team,” Dunleavy said before the game. “They’ve got really good size, they really work well, they’re strong.”

But they came out cold after a weekend off in Los Angeles and trailed from throughout. Their 0-for-11 shooting from beyond the three-point arc played a part in the Clippers opening a 13-point lead in the second quarter.

But the resurgent Hornets ended the half with a 9-2 run capped by Davis’ three-point basket from the right wing, pulling to within 48-44.

Dunleavy had called out the Hornets’ play before they inbounded the ball, and reserve guard Darrell Armstrong told him, “We’re going to execute it too, coach.”

For the Hornets, the good times ended there. In the second half, the Clippers torched them, 61-36.

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An MRI exam on Chris Wilcox’s sprained left wrist was negative, but the Clipper forward played only two minutes. He wore a black brace on it after suffering the injury in Saturday’s victory over the Phoenix Suns. Wilcox said he was defending in the first half when his hand caught on a Sun player, bending his wrist backward. He played the rest of that game. ... Reserve guard Eddie House was eligible to be activated Monday but stayed on the injured list because of a sprained left foot. ... Alvin Gentry, who was 89-133 in 2 1/2 seasons as Clipper coach before he was fired last March, is an assistant with the Hornets. “As I told everybody, getting fired is painful,” Gentry told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “but for the most part it was a great experience to coach the Clippers.”