Six-Game Trip Could Go From Good to Great

The Clippers are greedy, and that’s fine with Coach Mike Dunleavy.

After a 3-1 start on a six-game, 11-day trip, the Clippers said they wouldn’t be satisfied to finish .500, so it’s time to sprint to the finish.

“We’re guaranteed .500 on this trip, regardless of what happens in the next two, and that’s big for us,” power forward Elton Brand said. “We didn’t lose any ground going on the road, and now we have two games left, so we want to try to win those also. We’re going to go in hard, trying to win those last two.”

The Clippers face the New York Knicks tonight at Madison Square Garden and the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Before the trip, the Clippers said they would have been content to go 3-3 against the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Knicks and Pistons.

Things changed, however, after the Clippers lost to Miami in the opener, 118-114. Frustrated about their fourth-quarter mistakes, the Clippers refocused and have won three in a row, including Sunday’s 115-113 overtime victory over the Raptors.

They’ve finished strong and pleased the demanding Dunleavy.

“We looked at this as like an eight-game road trip,” Dunleavy said. “We started out last Friday in Denver, flew home to L.A. from Denver for Saturday night’s game with Denver and then flew out to Miami.

“Along the way, if we were going to have a great trip, we had to win [against Toronto]. It sets us up for a real big trip.”

The Clippers (28-17), who have won 11 of 14, are at least 11 games above .500 for the first time since the 1974-75 season and on pace to break the franchise record of 49 victories.

Point guard Sam Cassell said the Clippers have improved as a unit on the trip.

“We made some mistakes in Miami, we didn’t do the things we needed to do down the stretch, but we didn’t hang our heads and complain, we just came back strong,” he said. “The one thing this team does, and I’ve said it all season, is that we always compete and play hard.

“Now, we’re also starting to develop more as a ballclub. It’s a great thing to see.”

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Setting screens is not among Brand’s main responsibilities, but the Clippers said Brand executed a great screen on Cassell’s tying three-pointer with 5.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter at Toronto.

Cassell connected on an uncontested 25-foot shot at the top of the arc after Brand blocked Raptor point guard Mike James.

“You’ve got to give Elton Brand the credit,” Cassell said. “Making the shot is the easy part, getting open is the hard part, and he set a magnificent screen. I couldn’t believe I was that wide open.”

Neither could the Raptors.

“Mike felt like he got held,” Toronto Coach Sam Mitchell said. “I don’t think, in no earthly way, Sam Cassell would have been that wide open.”

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TONIGHT

at New York, 4:30 PST, Channel 5

Site -- Madison Square Garden.

Radio -- 1150.

Records -- Clippers 28-17, Knicks 14-32.

Record vs. Knicks -- 1-0.

Update -- The Clippers defeated New York, 84-79, on Dec. 7 at Staples Center. The struggling Knicks have lost 11 of 12. Guard Stephon Marbury sat out the last two games because of a shoulder injury.