Clippers Play Catch-Up Well

Signs of change have been visible nightly, but the transformation of the Clippers is an evolving thing.

The process appeared to move forward Wednesday night as the Clippers rallied for an 84-79 victory over the New York Knicks at Staples Center.

The Clippers overcame their worst first-half performance of the season and clamped down against the Knicks after halftime, harassing New York into six-of-34 shooting in the final two quarters.

They outscored the Knicks, 29-16, in the fourth, and took command, 77-71, on a 10-2 run that Cuttino Mobley capped with a three-pointer at the 1:51 mark.

Mobley rebounded from a rough start to finish with 24 points, forward Elton Brand had 24 points and 11 rebounds in his 12th double-double and point guard Sam Cassell contributed 16 points and 11 assists as the Clippers improved to 13-5, 8-1 at Staples Center. Los Angeles was playing without injured forward Corey Maggette.

A night after defeating Seattle, the Knicks (6-12) got 24 points and 11 rebounds from center Eddy Curry, but he scored only seven points in the second half.

The Clippers took another positive step in a victory Coach Mike Dunleavy acknowledged they probably wouldn’t have gotten last season.

“Would we have won it last year? More than likely not,” Dunleavy said. “I have to hand it to our guys. They stayed with it defensively after that first half when we were ... just awful.

“I give the Knicks credit. They looked like they were the guys who had the night off, and we looked like we were the ones who played a late-night game. Finally, the second half, our defense tightened up.”

Curry repeatedly overpowered center Chris Kaman in the first half, scoring 17 points to help the Knicks take a 50-39 halftime lead.

Curry often got good position close to the basket and then moved Kaman further back, missing only two of his nine shots in the post.

The Knicks shot 52.5% in the half. They finished the game at 36.5%.

Meanwhile, the Clippers shot only 34.9% in the first half and 39.2% overall.

The Clipper comeback started with defense, which wasn’t surprising.

Beginning play Wednesday, the Clippers topped the NBA in field-goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to 40.8% shooting. They also ranked fourth in three-point field-goal defense at 31.9%.

Defense is Dunleavy’s top priority, and the Clippers have followed his lead.

“We thought we’d be good, but there’s no way I could have known that we’d be leading the league,” Dunleavy said. “We understand concepts, we’re getting good effort and they’ve also done a pretty good job of the tougher aspects of it when I switch up on them because of different personnel.

“When I say, ‘OK, this personnel is in the game, so we’re not doing it that way anymore, we’re going to do it this way,’ they’ve responded. You have a tendency at times to lose people when you do that, but our guys have been able to do it.”

The Clippers said it’s easy to buy into something successful.

“Defense is the No. 1 thing we stress, and we’ve been doing well defensively,” said Kaman, who scored a timely basket to beat the shot clock with 46.3 seconds to play, giving the Clippers an 80-75 lead.

“But as well defensively as we play, Mike is still on us about messing up the littlest things. You can tell he has a passion to win games and it starts with defense and rebounding.

“That’s what it’s all about with him. That’s what his philosophy has been for years, and that’s how he does it. He starts with defense and figures the offense will take care of itself.”

It also helps that the Clippers trust each other.

“I have to know that my guys have my back if I get beat, and I have that trust,” Cassell said. “That’s one of the special things about this team.”