Too Bad Suns Clipped This Run in Bud

Hades was feverishly anticipating its first cold front. Pigs across the globe were beginning to sprout wings. Close, but no victory cigar. The Suns dispatched the second L.A. team in as many weeks. Nevertheless, great job to the Clippers for exceeding expectations and giving us a great thrill ride that even Magic Mountain couldn’t match.

MARK J. FEATHERSTONE

Windsor Hills

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Let’s take a moment and enjoy the Clippers’ success.... OK, now let’s look to the future.

Memo to Clippers management: Mike Dunleavy is fool’s gold. Please, don’t overreact and sign him to a long-term contract. Give him a three-year extension with management options for the last two years. That way, you can allow him to walk and hire a great coach after the Clippers are eliminated in 2008.

WILLIS BARTON

Los Angeles

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Let me see if I have this straight: One local NBA team starts the season with low expectations and overachieves all year, scratching and clawing and playing its best basketball down the stretch to make the playoffs. It extends the second-seeded team to seven games, gets blown out and then is lambasted by The Times’ columnists for “quitting.”

Another local team starts the season with high expectations, plays decent throughout the season but tanks at the end to get a more palatable opening-round opponent. It also extends the second-seeded team to seven games, gets blown out and then is praised by The Times’ columnists for “effort and grit.”

These two reactions illustrate succinctly why L.A. will always be a Lakers town: Playing well but losing will never be acceptable for Lakers fans, while it leaves Clippers fans absolutely giddy.

SID DUTCHER

Anaheim

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And there was talk about the Clippers hanging a banner in the Lakers’ house. Heh, heh.

MATT STEIN

Los Alamitos