Players Agree, There’s No Place Like Home

Getting home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs was important for the Clippers, who focused Thursday on maximizing the potential edge against the Denver Nuggets.

The Clippers play host to Denver in Game 1 Saturday night at Staples Center, and players said that’s a good place for them to start.

“It’s big for us starting at home, real big,” co-captain Sam Cassell said. “We wanted to open at Staples because our fans have been great, they’ve been behind this basketball team all year, and we need that energy that they bring.

“Maybe some other teams don’t think it’s a big deal, but home-court advantage could be key for this basketball team to accomplish what we’re going out there to try to accomplish.”

Since the NBA expanded to a 16-team playoff format in 1984, teams have won 66.2% of playoff games played on their home courts, according to research by the league office. In the first round, the success rate is 64.7%, though it was only 55.8% last season.

“I don’t care what the numbers say, I just know we wanted to have the home court,” co-captain Elton Brand said. “For a lot of guys, we haven’t had that experience of going to the playoffs and knowing how things are, so anything we can have that could help us ... why wouldn’t we want to have it?”

Of course, the Clippers will play at Denver too. Games 3 and 4 are scheduled Thursday and Saturday at the Pepsi Center, and the Clippers set a franchise record this season with 20 road victories, finishing 20-21.

Coach Mike Dunleavy has convinced the Clippers that they can compete with any opponent anywhere, and they might need a victory or two at Denver to win the best-of-seven series.

“We’re a good road team,” Dunleavy said. “That’s what this year was all about. We’re not afraid of going on the road, or worried about having to win on the road.

“Our expectation, basically, is to go on the road and win. We want to come out and play our best at home, but if we were to lose at home, I’m not worried about making it up on the road.”

*

The Clippers have scheduled two practice sessions today.

“It’s all about your preparation and your focus,” Dunleavy said. “It’s about getting your play sets, tapes on individuals and player sets ... it’s study time. You’ve got to make sure you have that preparation down. You can’t leave it to chance of just going over it one time. You’ve got to go over it multiple times.”

*

Swingman Corey Maggette, sidelined the previous seven games because of a herniated disk, said he experienced no back pain a day after scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in Wednesday’s 85-71 victory over the Mavericks at Dallas.

*

Team medical personnel will re-evaluate forward Vladimir Radmanovic, given five days off because of a strained groin, today in an attempt to determine his status for the postseason opener. The injury affected the three-point specialist’s shooting down the stretch, but Radmanovic is on the 13-man playoff roster, Dunleavy said.

*

Rookie center Boniface Ndong and rookie forward Yaroslav Korolev are on the inactive playoff list, Dunleavy said.