Savvy veteran makes his points in desperation time

Extra-dire circumstances required an extra letter for the Clippers’ distress signal.

SOSS. Save our season, Sam.

There was Sam Cassell, back on the court, right in the thick of a fourth-quarter resurgence with eight points and three assists that helped turn a double-digit Lakers lead into a 118-110 Clippers victory Thursday at Staples Center.

“I know how to make plays,” said Cassell, who finished with 12 points. “I’ve been making plays in this league a long time.

“But damn, Kobe Bryant is good.”

Good enough to score 50 points for the ninth time this season. But not good enough to win this game.

The Clippers needed this more, and showed it with a frantic effort after the Lakers had controlled the action through the middle part of the game and into the early fourth.

“Desperation kicked in,” said Elton Brand, who scored nine of his 32 points in the fourth quarter.

“That’s like a Game 7 elimination right there.”

Now the Clippers’ playoff hopes are still alive. So are the Lakers’, although their chances of doing anything once they get there look smaller by the minute.

What do we make of the Clippers? Midway through the season they were known as the league’s biggest disappointment.

Then after losing Shaun Livingston to that gruesome knee injury and sifting through the blue recycling bin to find replacement point guards, the Clippers could wind up as one of the NBA’s feel-good stories.

They won eight of 10 games to crawl into a playoff spot, and could even contemplate different seedings and first-round matchups.

Then they skidded right out of the top eight Western Conference teams.

Enter Cassell. Since March 21, Cassell had played a total of 10 minutes in two games.

Before the game, Clippers trainer Jasen Powell twisted, pushed and pulled Cassell to loosen his problematic back. (Cassell, in turn, mocked Powell’s dress shirt collection.)

The rust showed in a shaky second-quarter stretch. Cassell wasn’t close on a three-point attempt and had a Fred Brown-to-James Worthy moment when he blindly threw a pass that Smush Parker picked off and took for a layup.

The Clippers can overcome some early ineffectiveness. Where they’ve missed him the most has been in the fourth quarter.

The thing that’s separating the teams making the serious playoff push from the ones sending their executives to the NBA lottery, fourth-quarter execution. Well, not just the execution but the conception, the formulation and commitment to an offensive game plan in addition to the ability to carry it out.

Watch the way Detroit’s getting it done lately.

The Denver Nuggets have also found a way. Not surprisingly, it involves making sure Allen Iverson and/or Carmelo Anthony touch the ball on every fourth-quarter possession.

That’s how they rolled in their victory over the Clippers Saturday, while the Clippers didn’t stick with their main man Brand.

This fourth quarter they had Cassell again. He drove for a layup, then worked Sasha Vujacic back-and-forth like a windshield wiper before hitting a jumper, took a ball that Brand poked away from Bryant, pushed it downcourt and dished to Corey Maggette for a layup and a free throw, and the Clippers tied the score.

Later, Cassell tip-toed around Parker and went in for an easy layup that gave the Clippers a six-point lead with 3:49 remaining.

The Lakers had their own SOS: staredowns of Smush, with Bryant delivering the glares after that play and another late pickup of Maggette that led to a foul and free throws.

But when the Lakers sent out their usual cry for help: the Bat signal, or whatever it is they use to summon Bryant’s heroics, he wasn’t able to bail them out.

He stayed on the court for every second of the game, telling Phil Jackson during one timeout, “If I come out, we’ll probably be down 10 before I take a breath,” the coach recalled afterward, adding, “He’s probably right.”

So Bryant kept running to the open spot, kept getting the ball, kept shooting, kept scoring. He wasn’t about to let the Lakers lose.

It didn’t matter that the Clippers’ defense forced him so far out on the floor that he often wound up among the sideline fans after he shot.

Bryant looks as if he’s buckled up for the duration of the flight, resigned to stay in his role of sole “decider” of the Lakers’ fate.

Since March 16 the Lakers are 6-2 when Bryant scores at least 40 points, 1-6 when he doesn’t.

The previous two games Bryant was willing to experiment and see how it worked with everyone sharing the load equally. The result was losses to Phoenix and Denver.

Thursday night was a good time to take control again. It was a TNT game, which meant longer timeouts and more time to recuperate.

Bryant played every minute. He also shot two for eight in the fourth quarter after making 15 of his first 25 shots. He’d never say it, but you have to believe fatigue set in.

We know this: it’s time for the rest of the team to kick in.

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