Maggette Remains Sidelined

An MRI exam Monday of a sprained joint near Corey Maggette’s left collarbone was negative, but the Clipper scoring leader will remain sidelined indefinitely.

“I didn’t think the MRI would show anything, so it wasn’t a surprise,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said before Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks. “But still, until he gets to where he’s mobile he’s not going to be able to play.”

Maggette has sat out the last two games because of the injury, diagnosed as a sprain of the joint connecting the collarbone to the sternum, the result of a blow to the left shoulder near the end of Friday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

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Marko Jaric returned to the starting lineup Monday, ending a string of 21 consecutive starts for former Knick Rick Brunson.

Brunson, who before this season had made 12 starts in seven NBA seasons, averaged 8.7 points, 7.0 assists and 33.6 minutes as a Clipper starter. His career averages before this season: 2.6 points, 1.9 assists and 10.3 minutes.

“Rick was awesome,” Dunleavy said of the journeyman, signed by the Clippers last fall in part to act as a mentor to rookie point guards Shaun Livingston and Lionel Chalmers. “He’s playing great for us.... He knew what the deal was when he signed on, and it turned into much, much more for him.”

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Before wrapping up a four-game sweep of the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, the Clippers hadn’t swept a season series against a Western Conference opponent since the 1996-97 season. En route to their most recent playoff appearance, the Clippers were 4-0 that season against both the second-year Vancouver Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs, whose All-Star center, David Robinson, sat out almost the entire season because of an injury.

Each of their opponents in the West except the New Orleans Hornets, who joined the conference this season, has swept the Clippers at least once.

Five did it last season.