No Place Like Home and Clippers Really Know It

The Clippers are a playoff team at Staples Center, where their movements are more fluid, attention to detail more acute and nerves less jangled.

Outside their home arena, they’re a lottery team.

Unfortunately for them, the positive results at home are outweighed by the negative on the road and they’re out of the playoff picture despite results such as Friday night’s 98-94 victory over the playoff-bound Washington Wizards in front of a sellout crowd of 19,239 at Staples Center.

They’re 26-14 at Staples Center, including a split of two Laker home games, and still would be in the playoff race if only they were slightly better than 6-23 outside Los Angeles, where they’ll play their next seven games.

“I talked about that in the locker room: We’ve got to play with that same kind of confidence on the road,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I’m excited about this trip because of the opportunity to do that.

“We’ve played well and we should feel good about the way we’ve played. It’s a good test for us ... to take it out on the road and make something good happen.”

The Clippers, despite a sloppy finish, made something good happen Friday. They never trailed in ending a five-game losing streak against the Wizards, who cut a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to one in the last minute before the Clippers hung on.

Corey Maggette, who made four free throws in the last 12 seconds, scored 26 points. Elton Brand had 25 points and 10 rebounds. Zeljko Rebraca matched a season high with 19 points, making seven of nine shots and five of six free throws.

Gilbert Arenas, who scored 35 points last month in a 94-91 victory over the Clippers, scored 33 for the Wizards.

The Clippers, who play 10 of their last 13 games on the road starting Sunday at Minneapolis, are 25-13 in home games, matching their best home record in six seasons at Staples Center and their best home mark since the 1992-93 season, when they were 27-14 at the Sports Arena and made the playoffs.

Only three other teams have won more home games this season. Since November, however, the Clippers are 2-21 away from Staples Center.

“Some of it’s hard to quantify,” Dunleavy said of the Clippers’ season-long struggles on the road. “Basically, it comes down to poise, it comes down to execution, making things happen. Maybe some of it is learning, at the end of a game, what calls will be made [by the officials] and won’t be made.”

Of his efforts to improve the team’s road record, if not on this trip at least before next season, Dunleavy said, “What we’re trying to do is spend a lot of time watching mistakes and things that go on late in games, at the end of games.

“You’re hoping that the reinforcement is, ‘Here it is; you’ve experienced it. We’ve told you about it before but now you’ve experienced it. Draw on that visual and understand the situation you’re in and not let it happen again.’ ”

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Shaun Livingston, who played in his fourth game after sitting out 39 because of a dislocated right kneecap and 13 because of torn cartilage in his right shoulder, is still trying to shake off the rust from his layoffs. “I’m trying to get my timing back, get comfortable again on the court,” he said. “I feel like I’m in the flow of it, I’m feeling good. But down the stretch I want to get a little bit more comfortable and more loose, just a little bit more decisive rather than kind of being a little bit more of a robot out there.” ... Marko Jaric played only five minutes before aggravating a hip injury in the second quarter.... The Clippers waived Kenny Anderson.

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UP NEXT

Sunday vs. Minnesota at Minneapolis, Channel 5, 12:30 p.m. -- The Clippers open a seven-game trip against the struggling Timberwolves, who had won nine in a row over the Clippers before losing last month at Staples Center, 92-86.