Brand Must Sit 1 Game

Elton Brand said he was only trying to “create some space.”

The space he cleared was on his calendar and in his wallet, the Clipper forward drawing a one-game suspension from the NBA on Tuesday for shoving rookie Emeka Okafor of the Charlotte Bobcats in Monday night’s game.

Brand was ejected with 3 minutes 28 seconds to play in the fourth quarter of a 99-93 double-overtime Clipper victory at Staples Center when he reacted angrily after Okafor crowded him in the post, pushing Okafor in the face.

The first suspension of his career will cost Brand a game’s salary -- more than $147,000 -- and keep him out of Saturday night’s game against the Lakers.

“I’m disappointed to lose a player of his caliber,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I didn’t think he threw a punch, so I didn’t think he’d get suspended for a game. I thought he’d just get his two [demerit] points for the [double] flagrant foul ... and he’d be at risk [of suspension] in the future ... but [not] this time around.”

Brand, perhaps fearing a suspension, glossed over the incident in his postgame comments.

“I was just trying to get a guy off me,” he said. “You know, just create some space. It definitely wasn’t anything malicious....

“I felt like I got hit in the face some. I’m just reacting.”

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Former Clipper forward Melvin Ely, a lottery pick in the 2002 draft, is still glowing about the deal that sent him to the Bobcats last summer.

“The trade was the best thing for me, because I wasn’t a fit here,” said Ely, who made four of 11 shots and had eight points and four rebounds in 23 minutes Monday, all more than his season averages.

“You had [Chris] Wilcox coming into his own, you had [Chris] Kaman that was [Dunleavy’s] pick ... and of course you’ve got Elton Brand

“I really don’t have any hard feelings, because if you think about it, it was rightfully so that I was the odd man out, and I’m just happy they got me out of there.”