A Voice of Experience Helps Out Dunleavy

Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy has been fighting the media. He cannot understand why he’s being second-guessed, as if it’s every playoff series where he blows it. Now that I think about it....

Anyway, I stopped by Staples Center on Thursday morning in a last-ditch effort to help the Clippers and to explain to Dunleavy I’m not like the rest of the media in town. I coached the St. Columba Elementary School girls’ basketball team in San Diego to three consecutive undefeated seasons.

And I know this, there’s no way Daniel Ewing would’ve gotten into any of those games.

Dunleavy, of course, acted as if he had never heard of the Girls Catholic League. “I’ve never ventured there,” he said.

“You keep coaching like you are,” I said, “and you’ll find yourself there soon.”

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LET’S FACE it, doing it all by himself, Dunleavy has lost more games than he has won while coaching in the NBA, so you would think by now he’d welcome some advice from another coach.

“You guys don’t understand,” Dunleavy began.

“I haven’t even brought up Portland and the Lakers yet,” I said.

You would think he would be begging for advice, already losing two playoff games to the Suns that the Clippers could have won.

Take the other night. Dunleavy started Corey Maggette, who had an amazing 29 rebounds in the previous two games, but then buried him on the bench because Maggette didn’t do what Dunleavy wanted.

By the way, it’s a good bet Maggette won’t be here next season, traded like Chris Wilcox earlier this season, because Dunleavy insists on control. That’s what has gotten the Clippers this far after so many horrible years, but then Maggette’s flamboyant game is nearly impossible to control.

Maggette played 17 minutes in a double-overtime game, and remained on the bench with 3.6 seconds to play in the first overtime with the Clippers needing to keep the Suns from tying the score with a three-pointer.

Maggette might not be the Clippers’ best defender, but he’s big, physical, already accustomed to the playoff intensity in this series and Raja Bell would’ve had a tough time pushing off him like he successfully did with Ewing.

“We had come back from being 19 down,” Dunleavy said, and who was coaching the team while it went 19 down, I asked?

“We’ve been playing this way all year -- using [Ewing] in that situation,” Dunleavy protested.

“You were trying to teach Maggette a lesson,” I suggested, reminding him the undersized Suns outrebounded the Clippers with Maggette sidelined, “and you were too stubborn to put him back in.”

Dunleavy disagreed. “On the lives of my three sons, I guarantee you I would never do that. There’s nothing personal with any player. Everything I do is strictly about winning.”

OK, so he just made the wrong move, adding to wrong moves made earlier in the series.

“Anything that goes wrong here, it’s my fault,” Dunleavy said, and finally we were in agreement. The idea, of course, is to cut down the number of his mistakes, and an open mind would help.

So with two games remaining, and the Clippers needing to win both of them, we spent the rest of the time in his office going over Xs and O’s, you know, the kind of stuff we coaches have to do before a game starts.

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DUNLEAVY STARTED the game with Maggette on the bench. Good thing he doesn’t carry a grudge.

The Suns led by one after the first quarter, and while we had talked about maybe sitting on the bench to nudge him when necessary, Dunleavy showed he has the ability to learn on the job. He put Maggette into the game, and the Clippers immediately raced out to a 10-point lead.

Dunleavy, of course, had one big thing going for him entering Game 6. So far he’s only goofed in odd-numbered games -- resting Elton Brand in Game 1, benching Sam Cassell in Game 3 and taking Ewing over Maggette in Game 5. We’ll worry about Game 7 later.

The Clippers had a 16-point lead in the third quarter but began the fourth leading by only seven. A little later, a five-point burst by Maggette made it a 13-point Clipper game -- no sign of Ewing yet -- but Maggette, who scored 25 off the bench, apparently wants to play another game before getting traded.

Livingston turned the ball over, Dunleavy lifted him, and the Clippers went on to win by 12. Obviously our morning talk paid off. I guess we better meet again Monday morning in Phoenix.

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THE MUCH-ballyhooed meeting between Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley fizzled with Barkley tanking when it came to confronting the guy he criticized. He even apologized for making public Bryant’s text messages in response to Barkley’s criticism, proving he’s still more the former player than the TV commentator.

Bryant tried to explain why he didn’t quit on the Lakers, but I’m still not buying it. I don’t believe I’ll feel any different when we meet face-to-face.

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THE CURRENT cover of ESPN The Magazine has a picture of three basketball players and the headline: “Why Nobody Wants to Play the Nets.” Except the Heat, I guess.

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THE NATIONAL Enquirer reported that Ashlee Simpson got upset when fans sitting in the VIP seats at Dodger Stadium began heckling her recently, one of them reportedly screaming, “Why did your sister Jessica dump Nick?”

I know what you’re thinking, but I’m sure the magazine would have identified Frank’s Old Lady had she been the one screaming.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.