Brand Schools the Baby Bulls

Nearly four years have passed since the Chicago Bulls traded Elton Brand.

The resentment he once held for his former team subsided long ago, the Clipper forward said, calling the Bulls “a great organization” and adding that he has cheered their rebirth this season as a playoff contender in the East.

“They’re not in the West,” he said. “What do I care?”

But Brand’s best wishes for the Bulls didn’t make it any less gratifying for him to knock down three clutch jump shots in the last 2 1/2 minutes Sunday, helping the Clippers to a sloppy 83-78 victory over his former team in front of a sellout crowd of 19,060 in Staples Center.

“We needed somebody to step up and hit shots,” he said.

A loss would have dropped the Clippers a season-high nine games below .500. The victory was their 28th, matching their total from last season, when they lost 54 games and finished last in the Western Conference.

Recovering just in the nick of time after losing a 15-point lead and falling behind, 75-70, with 5 minutes 48 seconds to play, they ended the game with a 13-3 run.

Brand and another former Bull, Rick Brunson, led the late charge, Brunson steadying the offense from the point, assisting on two of Brand’s jumpers from the left wing, taking five rebounds in the last 3:40 and making two late free throws.

Brunson finished with 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds against his former team. And, like Brand, he said it was nothing personal.

“I’ve probably been cut by every team in the league,” said the eight-year veteran, a journeyman who played 54 games with the Bulls over the last two seasons. “It’s the NBA, man. It’s a job. It’s just like being transferred.... You don’t get caught up in trying to beat your former team.”

That’s what he and Brand did, though, helping the Clippers complete a season sweep of the Bulls four months to the day after they erased a 24-point deficit in a 97-96 victory at Chicago, the biggest comeback in Clipper history.

This time, it was the Bulls who rallied. They’d won their last three games and were 32-18 after a 0-9 start, putting themselves in position to make the playoffs for the first time since Michael Jordan left town. But they trailed early in the third quarter, 53-39, before outscoring the Clippers, 36-17, over the next 17 1/2 minutes.

Eddy Curry, who led the Bulls with 19 points and eight rebounds, made the score 75-70 on a putback, the Bulls scoring with only four players at the offensive end after Antonio Davis suffered an ankle injury and never made it down court.

On came Brunson, replacing Lionel Chalmers with 5:43 left.

“When I got back out there I said, ‘I’m going to try to control the tempo,’ ” he said. “I thought we got out of control as far as turnovers and quick shots, so I just said, ‘I’m going to slow it down, just try to [make us] take quality shots.’ ”

A layup by Zeljko Rebraca started a 9-0 run, Brand capping it by making a jumper from the left wing off a pass from Brunson with 2:28 to play and another off a pass from Corey Maggette with 1:45 left, giving the Clippers a 79-75 lead.

The Bulls missed their next four shots and went nearly 4 1/2 minutes without scoring before Ben Gordon made a three-point shot.

Brunson again found Brand on the left wing, this time for a 13-foot jumper that made the score 81-78 with 24 seconds to play. Brunson added two free throws with 7.6 seconds left.

“It’s the tale of the season,” said Brand, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds. “When we execute, we win. When we don’t, we lose.”