Don’t Wake Them Just Yet

We must be in heaven, man.

-- Wavy Gravy,

Woodstock, 1969

*

So this is what it looks like?

Well, not exactly, seeing as how nobody has won anything, but for the Clippers, a 2-0 lead in a playoff series is certainly different. Of course, so is being in a playoff series.

Everyone, from giddy Clipper fans and officials to skeptical media people, is trying to deal with the new phenomenon, as before Game 1 when ESPN’s Brent Musburger and Jim Gray discussed interviewing owner Donald T. Sterling.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever had him on,” Gray said.

“Certainly not at this time of year,” Musburger said.

It’s a new year and a new day, even if everyone in Staples Center for the first two games of the series was thinking the same thing -- Am I dreaming?

“You look up, you’re 20 points ahead, the crowd is on their feet screaming,” Elton Brand said after Game 2. “You’re home and you see that NBA playoff logo out there, it’s just all a great experience.

“It’s well worth the wait. I’d have loved to get there sooner, but hey, I’m here with a team that hasn’t been here in a while, so that means a lot.”

Brand took Duke to the 1999 Final Four as a sophomore and waited seven pro seasons for this. On the other hand, in this organization that’s nothing.

“Home-court advantage,” said former vice president of marketing Mitch Huberman, who now works for Fox. “I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime.”

It’s not a dream. The Clippers may not win another game this postseason, but for the moment, at least, they’re a real team with size, youth and leadership. Most of their key people are under long-term contracts, and Sterling’s payroll is up to $50 million.

For fans worried Donald has lost it, that’s still only No. 26 in the NBA. The team is on sound economic footing, having already moved into the top 10 in profits in recent seasons without making the playoffs, according to Forbes.

Of course, part of the Clippers’ charm, if you want to call it that, is that this could all disappear in an instant, and has before.

Remember their 2000-01 breakout, with rookies Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson and Keyon Dooling joining Lamar Odom, Corey Maggette, et al., when their games became dunk shows and sold out the last half of the season?

You could ask Maggette about it. By the fall of 2004, he was the only one from that team left. Even if their moves look easy and affordable, even a giddy Clipper fan knows better than to assume.

This all started with the 2003 arrival of Coach Mike Dunleavy, who so impressed Sterling, he all but turned the basketball operation over to him. Dunleavy has only a team option for next season left. Clipper officials want to sign him to an extension but have yet to hear his price, which may be $5 million, or more.

Sam Cassell’s contract is up, and at his age -- he turns 37 early next season -- he won’t get big offers. If they don’t bring him back happy, they’re out of their minds, or have reverted.

And Cassell isn’t shy about telling them about it.

“Every team I have left, they suffered, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “So you want to suffer, let me get out of here. ...

“If I was a season-ticket holder and I see the kind of product they have on the court right now, I would want it for years to come, and if it doesn’t happen that way, I’d be totally upset. But this is a golden opportunity for whoever makes the decisions around here to step up and put up or shut up. It’s that simple.”

Actually, it is. Lots of players run their mouths, although not many like Cassell. On the other hand, there are precious few game-changers and he’s one.

If things looked promising in 2001, it took the Clippers five years to deliver. Now they’ve never had as much to lose.

Their crowds at Games 1 and 2 aren’t like Laker crowds, and it only starts with the courtside seats, for which the Lakers charge $2,200 to the Clippers’ $800.

Laker season-ticket holders have had them for years, are used to better and now live in hope. All but a few Clipper season-ticket holders arrived after the move to Staples in 1999, aren’t used to anything and never dared to hope.

This leads to unusual behavior for local fans ... such as wild cheering. Late in the Clippers’ Game 2 romp, fans started doing the wave. They were so happy, not to mention so unused to the feeling, they didn’t know they were supposed to beat the traffic.

Of course, with the extended TV timeouts, these games do run for a while.

“You didn’t tell me these things were so long,” Clipper publicist Joe Safety said. “They didn’t seem that long from Maui.”

Here’s the amazing part: The Clippers could be only warming up. If they win this series, they won’t be overmatched in the next round.

If they play Phoenix, they’ll do it the way Phil Jackson is, socking the ball inside to slow down the Suns ... except the Clippers would do it with Brand and Chris Kaman, who are real post players as opposed to occasional ones, as Odom and Luke Walton are.

If it’s the Lakers and the Clippers, we’ll have our very own NBA Finals!

When was the last time this town ever had a postseason like this?

Oh yeah, never.