Ho Hum, Clippers Win Again

The Clippers’ expectations are changing quickly in an impressive start, so a 102-95 victory Thursday night over the Atlanta Hawks wasn’t their focus.

Coach Mike Dunleavy and players instead dissected what went wrong against the winless Hawks at Philips Arena, and the list was long.

They said they committed too many turnovers and weren’t aggressive enough in rebounding, among other transgressions, contributing to the outcome’s being in doubt longer than the Clippers had anticipated.

“We didn’t play well tonight, and we haven’t reached our peak yet, but we won and that’s what the good teams do,” point guard Sam Cassell said. “The good teams win ugly and they win nasty. We won ugly and nasty tonight.”

Cassell looked good as the Clippers improved to 3-1 on the road and 2-1 on the four-game trip, scoring 21 points with nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals. The 12-year veteran again controlled the tempo as the Clippers (5-1) opened a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter against the Hawks (0-5) and maintained a comfortable lead.

Forward Elton Brand made another efficient contribution.

After a 31-point, 13-rebound performance in Wednesday’s victory against the Washington Wizards, Brand had 23 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. With the Clippers leading, 66-64, and the Hawks rallying in the third quarter, Brand blocked Al Harrington’s shot, triggering a fastbreak that culminated in Cuttino Mobley’s three-point basket that gave the Clippers a five-point cushion with 4:30 remaining.

Mobley made two three-point shots in four attempts and scored 12 points. He returned to the game with less than two minutes left after slamming his head on the ground with 5:11 left in pursuit of the ball, opening a cut on his right eyebrow that required five stitches.

“I know Coach [Dunleavy] said it wasn’t pretty, and we could have played a lot better, but it was beautiful to me because we got another win on the road,” Brand said. “We had it going at times, but there was also a lot of slippage at times, and that’s what we’ve got to keep working on. The good thing is that we have so many guys who can make plays, and big plays when we really need it. You can see that we have so many weapons.”

Forward Corey Maggette is their biggest one off the bench.

Maggette, being eased in after missing the first four games because of a hamstring injury, scored 17 points in 25 minutes. His three-point play with 10:53 to play gave the Clippers an 81-69 lead.

“I’m the sparkplug, baby, I’m the sparkplug,” said Maggette, who scored 20 points, including 10 in the final quarter, in his season debut against Washington.

“Coach continues to bring me in, and when I come in I’m going to do what I always do. I’m going to attack the rim, I’m going to run the floor, get to the free-throw line and score.”

Joe Johnson was the Hawks’ top scorer with 24 points, and the 6-foot-7 guard had six of Atlanta’s 17 offensive rebounds. Dunleavy expressed anger after the Wizards had 18 offensive rebounds Wednesday, and he wasn’t upbeat about high totals in consecutive games.

“Our turnovers hurt us for 20 points, and offensive boards hurt us again for another 10, so 30 of their points came off of those two areas,” Dunleavy said. “I’d like for us to clean that up a little better.”

Of course, Cassell said, the bottom line is the bottom line.

“This counts as a major win for us,” he said. “This team only won 10 games on the road all last year, we’ve got three right now and it’s still November.

“We’re way ahead of schedule and we’re getting to be a better team. You can see how much better we’re playing, and I don’t even have all my guys back yet.”

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Six appeal

A look at the Clipper record after six games since the 2000-01 season and where they finished:

*--* Season After 6 Final Rec. 2000-01 2-4 31-51 * 12th in conference 2001-02 2-4 39-43 * 9th in conference 2002-03 2-4 27-55 * 13th in conference 2003-04 4-2 28-54 * 14th in conference 2004-05 3-3 37-45 * 10th in conference 2005-06 5-1

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Note: The last time the Clippers started 5-1 was the 1985-86 season; they finished 32-50, ninth in the conference.