Team Has Had Trouble Getting to the Point

It’s not as if the Clippers have never had a top-notch point guard. Randy Smith and Norm Nixon were regarded as two of the NBA’s best in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, and when Larry Brown coached the Clippers in the early 1990s, his successful teams featured such quality floor leaders as Doc Rivers and Mark Jackson.

But since then ...

In consecutive recent losses to Sacramento and Indiana, the Clippers hurt themselves with costly turnovers in the final minutes. Although the mistakes were not always the fault of Marko Jaric or Eddie House, the point guards getting the most minutes under Coach Mike Dunleavy in recent games, their lack of consistency has hurt the Clippers.

For veteran team announcer Ralph Lawler, the errors are nothing new.

“If you look at the Clipper teams that did make the playoffs over the years, they had a veteran point guard who controlled the game,” Lawler said. “The team has had guys like Pooh Richardson and Jeff McInnis, who had their moments, but for the most part, that’s an area that’s been lacking.”

Turning the ball over down the stretch was a problem early in the season, and it remains a sore spot now. “It’s frustrating because we go over the stuff all of the time in our practices,” Dunleavy said. “We have to learn to make plays and not get so hurried.”

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Elton Brand on the Clippers’ 25-35 season: “We’re trying to grow and get better. It was definitely more individual last year. Guys were trying to get contracts.... Now there’s more stability. Guys want to be here. It’s more important to them.

“[In 2001-02], we were fifth or sixth at the All-Star break. We were in the playoffs at the halfway mark. Then we imploded. We lost 10 of 12 at the end of the season.

“That season was a lot of fun. We’ve played well [this season], but we’ve had our struggles on the road and we’ve had our struggles with injuries.

“We’re still trying to change the way the Clippers are looked at. We’re still going to compete and keep playing until we’re mathematically eliminated.”