Intensity of Playoffs Suits Them Fine

It started with the suit. It ended with a shot that had all 19,162 fans in Staples Center holding their breath.

And now the Clippers have a victory in Game 1 of their playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, plus an evening’s worth of experience to apply toward preventing their next victory from being as precarious as their 89-87 win Saturday night.

One of the most relevant things the Clippers discovered is that the Nuggets will stay in this, the way they did by erasing a 16-point Clipper lead in the second half. They’ll probably grab a game here and force the Clippers to win one in Denver. The Clippers need to stop Andre Miller from driving through the lane as if he had an all-access pass. But if they keep taking smart shots while making Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin shoot jumpers, as was the case in Game 1, the Clippers will advance to the next round.

If you wondered what’s so different about the playoffs, the answer was hanging in Chris Kaman’s locker: a navy blue jacket with pinstripes, and a nice white collared shirt.

Yes, the shaggy center wore a suit to the game.

“We’ve got to play a little harder, so I’ve got to dress a little nicer,” Kaman said.

Kaman had some curiosities about his first playoff game. He wondered, for example, how the officials would call the game.

Hopefully Kaman consulted with veteran Sam Cassell, who had laid out some playoff truths to the media the day before: “From tipoff, the intensity is going to be high. The intensity’s high when you’re warming up. When they announce, “The Los Angeles Clippers coming to the court,” the intensity starts there. The intensity starts ... when you arrive in the building. The atmosphere is definitely different, you know what I’m saying? The dance team won’t be on the floor as long as they’ll usually be.”

Kaman took advantage of the clear court to start shooting practice an hour earlier than normal. Good thing he got his shots in three hours before game time, because after tipoff he discovered one of the golden rules of the NBA playoffs: the ball belongs to the stars.

The one constant thread Saturday -- through the blowouts and the close games -- was the stars did their things. Every MVP candidate who played Saturday presented a little post-ballot pitch for his cause. Cleveland’s LeBron James broke out a triple-double in his playoff debut with a 32-11-11 line. Miami’s Dwyane Wade had 30 points and 11 assists. And Tony Parker had 25 points in 25 minutes as San Antonio demolished Sacramento.

Elton Brand joined the NBA’s elite this season, and as a result he hopped off the league’s most undesirable list. Before Saturday, Brand had played 526 regular-season games without reaching the playoffs. Only six players in NBA history (plus Steve Carell in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) had gone longer with no payoff.

And from the start, Brand unleashed seven fruitless seasons’ worth of frustration on the Nuggets. He made six of his first seven shots, scoring 12 points in the opening quarter. He finished with 21, eight rebounds and five assists, plus a crucial block of a Carmelo Anthony shot in the final minute.

Now Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy needs to get in playoff mode. You’ve got to go with your big guns. That’s why James played 48 minutes for the Cavaliers and Anthony led the Nuggets in minutes during the first half, as he should have. But Kaman got the most run for the Clippers in the first half. And while Brand sat for the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and Cassell didn’t return until the quarter was halfway over, Anthony scored six straight points for the Nuggets to start a little comeback.

One of Cassell’s most basic tips is to do what you do. For Kaman, that meant going after missed shots and grabbing 13 rebounds. But he also kept losing the ball, most noticeably after Anthony missed a jumper with five seconds left.

And the Clippers forgot the golden rule of crunch time. Instead of being patient when Denver forced the ball from Brand and Cassell in the final three minutes, Clipper possessions included Quinton Ross’ missing an open jumper and losing the ball while driving the baseline and Vladimir Radmanovic’s driving the lane for an easy charge call.

If the Nuggets lost, at least they went down with Anthony -- statistically the league’s best crunch-time shooter -- firing up their last two shots, the final one hitting the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

The Clippers should keep that in mind, get the ball to Cassell and clear out.

Now they know. And now they won’t have to be asked if they’re nervous about their first trip to the playoffs, as Kaman was three times before Saturday’s game.

One game in the books. And if you’re going to get playoff experience, this is the way to do it, not by just playing. As George Karl said of his Nuggets, ousted in the first round the previous two years, “All we’ve experienced is losing and pain.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more by Adande go to latimes.com/adandeblog.